Airtel Subscriber Net Add in Odisha and Haryana a Positive Surprise: ICICI Securities

Reported by Tanay Singh Thakur February 20th, 2023 at 03:11 pm

Airtel added close to six million active users in Dec 2022. The telco's overall wireless subscriber base grew by 1.52 million, while Jio added 1.7 million wireless users. Airtel's ARPU (average revenue per user) for the December 2022 quarter rose to Rs 193 from Rs 190 in the previous quarter. The telco is going to benefit from the hike 0f base tariffs to Rs 155 in 17 circles of the nation in the short term.

Highlights

Bharti Airtel had increased the mobile tariffs for consumers in two circles to start with.
The base plan of Rs 99 was removed by the telco in Haryana and Odisha, and the new base plan became the Rs 155 option.
In a note, ICICI Securities has said that Airtel adding net subscribers in Odisha and Haryana in December 2022 is a positive surprise.

Airtel

Bharti Airtel had increased the mobile tariffs for consumers in two circles to start with. The base plan of Rs 99 was removed by the telco in Haryana and Odisha, and the new base plan became the Rs 155 option. Later, Airtel expanded it to 15 more telecom circles in India. In a note, ICICI Securities has said that Airtel adding net subscribers in Odisha and Haryana in December 2022 is a positive surprise. The data was pulled from the monthly performance report of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

As per the data, Airtel added 0.1 million and 0.2 million subscribers in Haryana and Odisha in Dec 2022. The subscriber addition came despite the removal of the Rs 99 plan as the base option. This is an encouraging sign for Airtel as well as the other telecom operators, including Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea (Vi). During the same month, Reliance Jio added 0.05 million and 0.01 million subscribers in Haryana and Odisha. Vi added 0.2 million and 0.02 million subscribers in Haryana and Odisha, respectively.

Airtel added close to six million active users in Dec 2022. The telco's overall wireless subscriber base grew by 1.52 million, while Jio added 1.7 million wireless users. Airtel's ARPU (average revenue per user) for the December 2022 quarter rose to Rs 193 from Rs 190 in the previous quarter. The telco is going to benefit from the hike of base tariffs to Rs 155 in 17 circles of the nation in the short term. Its ARPU could come close to Rs 200 at the end of Q4 FY23.

Vodafone Idea continued to lose subscribers during Dec 2022. The telco lost users in both the wireline as well as the wireless front. BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited) surprisingly added wireline users. The TRAI data shows that BSNL added 13,189 users MoM in Dec 2022. Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio also added wireline users during the month and expanded their wireline subscriber market share. As per the TRAI data, BSNL's market share in the wireline segment was 25.88%. Jio and Airtel's market share in the same was 30.60% and 24.72%.