Bharti Airtel had 72 Million 5G Users at the End of FY24

Reported by Tanay Singh Thakur May 18th, 2024 at 07:50 am

In the coming months, as more 5G devices are shipped to the customers, the more Airtel, as well as Jio's 5G user base will increase. According to data from IDC, about, 69% of the total smartphone units shipped in India during Q1 2024 (Jan - Mar, 2024), were 5G devices.

Highlights

Bharti Airtel recently came out with its quarterly reports for Q4 FY24.
Vittal said that at the end of Q4 FY24, they had about 72 million 5G subscribers.
Airtel's CEO said that their 5G subscriber base is growing at a rate of about two or two and a half million users a month.

bharti airtel had 72 million 5g users

Bharti Airtel recently came out with its quarterly reports for Q4 FY24. The telco's MD (managing director) and CEO (chief executive officer), speaking at the investors' call confirmed the 5G subscriber count and the 5G subscriber growth rate month over month. Vittal said that at the end of Q4 FY24, they had about 72 million 5G subscribers. Further, he said that their 5G subscriber base is growing at a rate of about two or two and a half million users a month.

"Because 70-80% of the shipments that are happening on smartphones are now 5G enabled, so to that extent, as people upgrade devices, they will naturally move to 5G," Vittal said.

This means that in the coming months, as more 5G devices are shipped to the customers, the more Airtel, as well as Jio's 5G user base will increase. According to data from IDC, about, 69% of the total smartphone units shipped in India during Q1 2024 (Jan - Mar, 2024), were 5G devices.

He added, "As far as we are concerned, we don't distinguish between 5G and 4G, the only challenge, of course, is that because of free 5G that's running, a user who has access to free 5G data, uses a lot more data, almost double the data that they use, when related to, if they don't get free data. If this were to be priced in, will they use the full double, I presume not, because people will calibrate some of the usage, but it will still be meaningfully more than what's currently being used on just 4G."

Vittal meant that they aren't as concerned about who is using 4G or 5G, they are more focused on how much data they consuming. Because of the free 5G data, the customers are using double the amount of data they would have used if they had to pay for it. He believes that if free data were to be removed (the free 5G data offer), then even if the data usage is not as much as it is right now, it would still be meaningfully more with 5G if the customer had to pay for it.