Bharti Airtel's subscriber base saw a limited impact of the tariff hike. The telco had removed the base plan of Rs 99 from all the circles and made the new plan the Rs 155 option. According to a recent ICICI Securities report on the TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) data, the subscriber base growth of Airtel was adversely impacted because of the tariff hike, but the impact was limited. When it came to active subscribers, Airtel and Jio were the only ones to add new users.
Reliance Jio's subscriber base grew by 3.2 million in February 2023. Vodafone Idea's (Vi) active subscriber base declined by 0.8 million. Airtel's move to raise tariffs has so far sat well with its business. While there were expectations of a decline in the subscriber base, Airtel has actually displayed the ability to add users despite higher tariffs than the competitors.
Read More - Jio and Airtel add Active Users in Feb 2023 while Vi and BSNL See a Decline: TRAI Data
Bharti Airtel hiked the base tariffs to get a boost in revenues from low-paying customers. The telco doesn't want to deal with low average revenue per user (ARPU) customers anymore. Vodafone Idea, on the other hand, despite offering a Rs 99 plan to customers, is facing a loss in its active subscriber base.
Bharti Airtel's active subscriber base grew by 0.8 million users, said ICICI Securities by reading the TRAI data. In its report, ICICI Securities said, "RJio’s MBB sub base rose 1.0mn to 427mn. Adjusted for inactive subs, its MBB market share stood at 51.3% (up 23bps MoM). Bharti’s MBB market share was 30.1% (up 18bps MoM), and VIL’s was 15.9% (down 22bps MoM)."
"VIL’s MBB sub base dipped 1.3mn in Feb’23 to 124mn, which is disappointing," the firm added. Airtel and Jio also saw a healthy rise in their wired subscriber base numbers. Airtel added 0.13 million subscribers, while Jio added 0.18 million subscribers to their wired services user base.
