Data services to drive telecom stocks; prefer Idea over Bharti: Sudip Bandyopadhyay

In a chat with ET Now, Sudip Bandyopadhyay, President, Destimoney Securities, shares his view on telecom space.

ET Now: Do you think one can look at telecom stocks in the light of positive spectrum auctions? It is learnt that CLSA too is focusing more on Bharti Airtel in its model portfolio. What is you view?

Sudip Bandyopadhyay: Telecom is an interesting play. There has been some pressure as telecom operators have paid quite a lot while bidding for spectrum auctions. We may see tariff rates may going up, albeit slightly.

This may probably result in marginal drop in number of calls being made. Having said that, there is a huge data push which is going to come.

Stocks of well-established players such as Bharti Airtel and Idea are definitely worth watching and worth getting into, if you have a one-year plus of time horizon in mind.

Remember, that Bharti has additional issues pertaining to African operations. nonetheless, as far as the balance sheet is concerned both Bharti and Idea are worth looking at. If I have to pick one, I will pick Idea at this stage.