Bharti Airtel, India's second-largest telecom operator, has gained revenue market share (RMS) in the second quarter of FY25. This came at the cost of Jio and Vi's (Vodafone Idea) RMS. Airtel has seen an uptick in its ARPU (average revenue per user) post the tariff hikes, but lost customers, including active users. Even Jio lost customers during the quarter because of the tariff hike, but at the same time, Jio added active users and saw an uptick in ARPU. However, Jio lost RMS, and Airtel gained.
Read More - Jio Adding Active Users Even as Overall Base Declines
Motilal Oswal, in a recent note, shared that Airtel's RMS grew by 90 basis points (0.9%) in Q2 FY25, said an ET report. At the same time, Jio and Vi saw a decline of RMS by 45 basis points each. After the quarter, Airtel's RMS was 40.5%, while Jio and Vi's were 43.5% and 16%. Even though Airtel's RMS went up, Jio had the lead overall.
RMS is an important metric for the telcos to measure their performance against the competitors. Even though Jio has a much larger subscriber base, the RMS of both Jio and Airtel are quite close. Combined, Jio and Airtel's RMS is 84%. Jio likely lost RMS due to the tariff hikes and losing customers. But at the same time, the telco saw growth in overall revenue levels and ARPU. The net profit also jumped quite significantly for the telco.
Read More - Jio vs Airtel vs Vi ARPU Q2 FY25: Tariff Hikes Make the Difference
The major thing is that the telcos are yet to see the full potential of the tariff hikes. The positive changes in ARPU will keep coming in the following quarters. For Vi to sustain, it needs to garner some of the RMS back from the likes of Jio and Airtel. The only way Vi can do that is by launching its 5G network and expanding 4G in more parts of the country with improved coverage.
