What stage are PUBG – AIRTEL discussions
Update on PUBG UNBAN In India
PUBG Update: After PUBG’s forced break-up with
Tencent in India, the promoters PUBG Corporation has got into discussion with
at least dozen companies to solve the India con-durum. From Reliance Jio, PayTM
to now Airtel various permutations-combinations have been discussed and
explored by the PUBG promoters but nothing has materialized till date. Every
time some news comes in, market gets excited that PUBG will soon get operational
in India but after few days everything gets fizzled out.
So the big question : Will this time the new discussion with AIRTEL actually move
forward or will it again just excite the market and eventually die down?
First thing first – What stage are PUBG – AIRTEL discussions ?
“PUBG is in early conversation with Airtel for
handing over distribution rights to the telecom giant. This desperation shows
that PUBG has been trying hard to get back into the Indian market,” said one of the sources on condition of anonymity to the website
Entrackr. Since the time this was reported, speculations are rife that
PUBG-AIRTEL marriage can happen soon. We reached out to people involved in the
discussions between AIRTEL & PUBG representatives and this is what we were
told –
“Very initial exploratory discussions have taken place and nothing has
been firmed up. The big issue for PUBG Corp is how to get the game remove from
the BANNED list by government. If that does not get resolved how any local
partnership discussion can materialize”, said
the source involved in the discussion.
It’s clear that discussion with AIRTEL or anyone else is not important
but what is important is to get the game UNBANNED first in India before the
local partnership gets sealed.
PUBG Ban : What ministry has to say ?
“Their is no discussion with-in the ministry officially to revoke
ban on any of the apps listed in the ban list. We will stay away from making
any comment on any specific company or app”, said the ministry source.
What is ministry’s current stand on PUBG ?
Leave aside unbanning the PUBG App, according to the information given,
not even any discussion has been initiated in regard to revoking of the ban on
any of the Chinese companies as per ministry source on Sep23rd.
We have further learnt that no representation till date has been made
by PUBG Corp or any other related company official to
the ministry for unbanning the game in India. Though PUBG Corp from their
side had released the statement few days back that, “they will reach
out to the government to find a solution” and will request them to
operate the game in the country while being “fully compliant withIndian laws and regulations.”
The government’s stand is very clear. At this stage the Indian
government is not ready to give any relaxations to any of the banned
entity.
Now with such hard stance by the government, how is it possible that an
Indian company of the stature of AIRTEL can finalize any discussion with the
entity which Indian government has banned. So any speculation about AIRTEL –
PUBG marriage anytime soon should be laid to rest for now.
