Bharti Airtel Outperformed Other Telcos in Q3 FY21: ICICI Securities

A few days back, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had released its performance indicator report of the Indian Telecom industry for Q3 FY21. The report shed light on the performance of the telcos in key areas where it became pretty evident that Bharti Airtel had outperformed Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea (Vi) during the quarter.

• Make Telecom Talk My Trusted Source
• 
• 

According to an ICICI Securities analysis of the TRAI’s report, there were plenty of positives for the overall industry. Consumer spends on telecom services during Q3 FY21 grew Quarter-on-Quarter (QoQ) by 4.6% and Year-on-Year (YoY) by 20.9% to Rs 390 billion.

However, it was the prepaid services that majorly led to the growth of revenues for the industry, while the postpaid services saw an 8.1% YoY dip in revenues.

Telecom Industry’s ARPU Increased by 4% QoQ

The telecom industry’s average revenue per user (ARPU) grew by 4% QoQ and 22.1% YoY to Rs 113 (Rs 138 including GST) on the back of the tariff hikes implemented in December 2019. Postpaid services net revenues grew by 0.4% QoQ but fell by 8.1% YoY to Rs 37 billion during the quarter. At the same time, prepaid services net revenues grew by 6.2% QoQ and 34.1% YoY to Rs 314 billion.

The prepaid ARPU was up by 5.6% QoQ and 35.7% YoY to Rs 95, while the postpaid ARPU dipped by 3% QoQ and 13.4% YoY to Rs 227. The rise in prepaid ARPU was helped by the consumers shift from legacy networks to 4G services.