How Vodafone Idea’s Priority Circles are Performing Based on Subscriber Data

Vodafone Idea, India’s leading and the merged telco of Vodafone and Idea, as we all know, projected several synergy benefits before and after the merger. The single largest telco also chalked out 17 Priority circles, and as the name suggests, these circles are prioritised at the forefront to achieve the telco’s goals and objectives. Let’s now look into the performance of the wireless subscriber base aspect of the telco in these circles.

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Vi Spectrum:

Vodafone Idea acquired mid-band 5G spectrum (3300 MHz band) in 17 priority circles, mmWave 5G spectrum (26 GHz band) in 16 circles and incremental 4G spectrum in 3 circles of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Punjab.

You can refer the India Spectrum Holding Timeline to check the complete Spectrum holdings of the telco.

Vi Subscriber Numbers:

While TRAI is yet to publish the September 2022 subscriber data, Vodafone Idea, in its Q2FY23 results, updated that the telco has 234.4 million subscribers as of September 30, 2022.

Some Q2FY23 Key Performance Indicators:

• Average Revenue per User (ARPU): Rs 131
• Average Minutes of Use per User: 599 min
• Average Data Usage by 4G Subscriber: 15,365 MB (Approximately 15GB)

In this analysis, let’s look into the wireless subscriber base as per TRAI for the last 12 months against the spectrum holdings of these 17 priority circles and understand how these priority circles fared.

Vi Wireless Subscriber Numbers: Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec 2021

Sl. No	Circle	Total Spectrum Holding	Sep 21	Oct 21	Nov 21	Dec 21
1	Kerala	964.8 MHz	16,550,717	16,576,730	16,499,736	16,408,387
2	Mumbai	332.4 MHz	11,579,610	11,620,995	11,603,364	11,587,899
3	Gujarat	613.6 MHz	24,305,580	24,206,672	24,075,093	23,790,340
4	Haryana	556.0 MHz	8,027,162	7,962,609	7,896,091	7,912,039
5	Maharashtra	572.8 MHz	29,368,881	29,030,093	28,900,729	28,665,552
6	UP – West	480.0 MHz	19,343,161	19,271,089	19,123,461	19,033,068
7	Kolkata	334.0 MHz	6,457,356	6,402,240	6,355,564	6,313,538
8	Delhi	321.2 Mhz	15,812,011	15,774,846	15,823,733	15,994,885
9	West Bengal	541.6 MHz	16,496,690	16,482,187	16,449,885	16,369,180
10	Tamil Nadu	412.8 MHz	18,421,575	18,267,793	18,157,872	18,029,076
11	Punjab	431.2 MHz	8,864,450	9,004,580	8,932,142	8,871,081
12	UP – East	391.2 MHz	20,781,191	21,051,817	20,548,863	20,531,856
13	Madhya Pradesh	542.0 MHz	20,787,588	20,723,844	20,566,331	20,461,601
14	Rajasthan	432.8 MHz	11,626,794	11,557,027	11,512,840	11,463,411
15	Andhra Pradesh	310.0 MHz	14,768,586	14,589,459	14,417,213	14,241,991
16	Karnataka	310.0 MHz	8,531,587	8,456,083	8,362,821	8,249,302
17	Bihar	96.8 MHz	10,973,747	10,877,621	10,747,890	10,577,260
Total 17 Circles			262,696,686	261,855,685	259,973,628	258,500,466
Net Addition				-841,001	-1,882,057	-1,473,162
Total 22 Circles			269,990,327	269,026,082	267,129,032	265,514,322

Vi Wireless Subscriber Numbers: Jan, Feb, Mar 2022

Sl. No	Circle	Total Spectrum Holding	Jan 22	Feb 22	Mar 22
1	Kerala	964.8 MHz	16,329,344	16,163,782	15,953,380
2	Mumbai	332.4 MHz	11,849,869	11,846,621	11,837,333
3	Gujarat	613.6 MHz	23,844,613	23,867,662	23,787,229
4	Haryana	556.0 MHz	7,888,919	7,918,102	7,833,440
5	Maharashtra	572.8 MHz	29,317,539	29,301,925	28,714,243
6	UP – West	480.0 MHz	19,143,370	19,026,856	18,762,746
7	Kolkata	334.0 MHz	6,239,867	6,136,945	6,076,759
8	Delhi	321.2 Mhz	16,103,982	16,054,137	16,130,457
9	West Bengal	541.6 MHz	15,979,046	15,804,656	15,662,083
10	Tamil Nadu	412.8 MHz	17,762,548	17,898,703	17,928,621
11	Punjab	431.2 MHz	8,666,491	8,618,570	8,546,865
12	UP – East	391.2 MHz	20,736,110	20,942,068	20,543,055
13	Madhya Pradesh	542.0 MHz	20,684,045	20,307,524	19,984,148
14	Rajasthan	432.8 MHz	11,378,812	11,183,574	11,073,954
15	Andhra Pradesh	310.0 MHz	14,095,576	13,803,355	13,692,242
16	Karnataka	310.0 MHz	7,981,269	7,827,250	7,639,731
17	Bihar	96.8 MHz	10,377,727	10,314,616	10,189,484
Total 17 Circles			258,379,127	257,016,346	254,355,770
Net Addition			-121,339	-1,362,781	-2,660,576
Total 22 Circles			265,125,240	263,593,051	260,774,732

Vi Wireless Subscriber Numbers: Apr, May, Jun 2022

Sl. No	Circle	Total Spectrum Holding	Apr 22	May 22	Jun 22
1	Kerala	964.8 MHz	15,752,322	15,467,939	15,278,510
2	Mumbai	332.4 MHz	11,806,736	11,872,510	11,702,577
3	Gujarat	613.6 MHz	23,829,900	23,847,573	23,835,491
4	Haryana	556.0 MHz	7,805,801	7,798,065	7,796,890
5	Maharashtra	572.8 MHz	28,258,963	28,021,176	27,756,584
6	UP – West	480.0 MHz	18,674,757	18,568,913	18,406,223
7	Kolkata	334.0 MHz	6,094,626	6,092,618	6,080,093
8	Delhi	321.2 Mhz	16,386,314	16,349,276	16,425,147
9	West Bengal	541.6 MHz	15,702,177	15,720,882	15,665,406
10	Tamil Nadu	412.8 MHz	17,752,333	17,705,521	17,654,593
11	Punjab	431.2 MHz	8,417,752	8,434,928	8,345,197
12	UP – East	391.2 MHz	20,347,136	20,234,110	20,159,319
13	Madhya Pradesh	542.0 MHz	19,771,158	19,850,888	19,544,985
14	Rajasthan	432.8 MHz	11,028,854	10,981,737	10,891,351
15	Andhra Pradesh	310.0 MHz	13,536,849	13,462,041	13,356,859
16	Karnataka	310.0 MHz	7,595,906	7,572,092	7,473,709
17	Bihar	96.8 MHz	10,098,755	10,181,591	10,101,469
Total 17 Circles			252,860,339	252,161,860	250,474,403
Net Addition			-1,495,431	-698,479	-1,687,457
Total 22 Circles			259,206,066	258,446,808	256,645,622

Vi Wireless Subscriber Numbers: Jul, Aug 2022

Sl. No	Circle	Total Spectrum Holding	Jul 22	Aug 22	Sep 22
1	Kerala	964.8 MHz	15,120,953	15,078,888
2	Mumbai	332.4 MHz	11,597,665	11,532,881
3	Gujarat	613.6 MHz	23,746,631	23,683,216
4	Haryana	556.0 MHz	7,800,804	7,771,735
5	Maharashtra	572.8 MHz	27,466,723	26,908,840
6	UP – West	480.0 MHz	18,303,435	18,103,713
7	Kolkata	334.0 MHz	6,061,242	6,024,917
8	Delhi	321.2 Mhz	16,444,876	16,530,586
9	West Bengal	541.6 MHz	15,561,404	15,410,317
10	Tamil Nadu	412.8 MHz	17,638,986	17,555,468
11	Punjab	431.2 MHz	8,302,554	8,210,720
12	UP – East	391.2 MHz	20,069,503	19,910,512
13	Madhya Pradesh	542.0 MHz	19,404,464	19,166,403
14	Rajasthan	432.8 MHz	10,835,672	10,750,310
15	Andhra Pradesh	310.0 MHz	13,003,669	12,957,328
16	Karnataka	310.0 MHz	7,520,391	7,442,360
17	Bihar	96.8 MHz	10,128,738	10,115,082
Total 17 Circles			249,007,710	247,153,276
Net Addition			-1,466,693	-1,854,434
Total 22 Circles			255,102,703	253,144,350

Wireless Subscriber Base Overview for last 12 Months (Start – End):

Sl. No	Circle	Total Spectrum Holding	Sep 21	Aug 22	Difference Sep 21 – Aug 22
1	Kerala	964.8 MHz	16,550,717	15,078,888	-1,471,829
2	Mumbai	332.4 MHz	11,579,610	11,532,881	-46,729
3	Gujarat	613.6 MHz	24,305,580	23,683,216	-622,364
4	Haryana	556.0 MHz	8,027,162	7,771,735	-255,427
5	Maharashtra	572.8 MHz	29,368,881	26,908,840	-2,460,041
6	UP – West	480.0 MHz	19,343,161	18,103,713	-1,239,448
7	Kolkata	334.0 MHz	6,457,356	6,024,917	-432,439
8	Delhi	321.2 Mhz	15,812,011	16,530,586	718,575
9	West Bengal	541.6 MHz	16,496,690	15,410,317	-1,086,373
10	Tamil Nadu	412.8 MHz	18,421,575	17,555,468	-866,107
11	Punjab	431.2 MHz	8,864,450	8,210,720	-653,730
12	UP – East	391.2 MHz	20,781,191	19,910,512	-870,679
13	Madhya Pradesh	542.0 MHz	20,787,588	19,166,403	-1,621,185
14	Rajasthan	432.8 MHz	11,626,794	10,750,310	-876,484
15	Andhra Pradesh	310.0 MHz	14,768,586	12,957,328	-1,811,258
16	Karnataka	310.0 MHz	8,531,587	7,442,360	-1,089,227
17	Bihar	96.8 MHz	10,973,747	10,115,082	-858,665
Total 17 Circles			262,696,686	247,153,276	-15,543,410

Bargraph Representation:

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If we look at the numbers reported for the last 12 months, except for Delhi, none of the priority circles made any subscriber additions. 16 of the 17 priority circles lost wireless subscribers, while Delhi (Metro) had a slight growth of subscribers, which stood at 16,530,586 in Aug 2022 from 15,812,011 in Sep 2021.

Recent Updates from the Telco:

• The telco announced Diwali Offer on three long-term prepaid plans.
• The telco recently lowered its postpaid tariffs and added Extra Data, Unlimited Night and other Tariff components to its plans to retain postpaid subscribers.
• Vodafone Idea Launches Vi Music Events
• Vodafone Idea (VIL) has introduced 300 new-format Vi Shops in the states of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, and UP West.

Vodafone Idea Prepaid Plans:

You can check the Complete List of Vodafone idea’s Prepaid Plans as of October 30, 2022, by clicking the link.

Conclusion:

Only time will tell if Vodafone Idea’s move to strategise and focus on 17 Priority circles will reap any benefits and increase the telco’s market share and revenues.

Note: Manual work is involved, and care is taken to avoid any errors. Please report in case of any corrections. Liberalised Spectrum is considered for use with any technology.

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