Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal says with return on capital in telecom industry, “We may as well put the money in the bank and go ..."

Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal lamented poor return on capital expenditure for the telecom industry world wide. Speaking on Day 1 at the Europe's biggest mobile industry annual tradeshow, Mittal said that the way the telecom industry functions globally is unsustainable. "We will [have] to reset our industry.”
Mittal urged telecom authorities worldwide to lower taxes and allocate sufficient spectrum at affordable rates. He said that while average industry revenue growth is just around 2%, year after year telecom companies have to face demands to buy expensive spectrum. This amounts to almost putting $200 billion into capex annually.
“This is one industry that is bearing the burden of building out the digital infrastructure across the globe. How much is this industry taking the load itself? The return on capital is just an average of 4 4%,” the Bharti Airtel chairman said. “We may as well put the money in the bank and go and play some golf,” Mittal added.
Mittal's concerns were shared by executives of European telecom companies who are quite upset with the excessive regulation in the region and voiced strong concerns. A report in Bloomberg quoted Deutsche Telekom CEO, Tim Hottges, as saying, “Europe could really use a DOGE,” alluding to the US President Donald Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, known for slashing costs. Deutsche Telekom gets most of its revenue and profit from a stake in US operator T-Mobile US Inc.
His comments reflect growing discontent over a European telecom market bogged down by slim profits and fierce competition. The sentiment is reportedly shared by fellow telecom industry executives, including Vodafone’s Margherita Della Valle, Orange SA’s Christel Heydemann, and Telefonica SA’s Marc Murtra.
Della Valle said, “In this global race, Europe’s falling behind. In the 5G era, we’re trailing.” Many executives see mergers as the solution, but regulators across Europe have repeatedly thwarted or altered deals that would shrink the number of operators per market from four to three, prioritizing affordable consumer prices.
Deutsche Telekom CEO argued, “We should just copy what the Americans are doing”. “China has three operators, even India went to three operators and they are prospering.”