Vodafone Idea Limited (VIL), the third-largest telecom operator in India, was the lone operator to lose active users in January 2025. This data comes from the TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) report for January 2025. Vodafone Idea's active user base has been declining for a long time now. In fact, Vi's overall subscriber base is soon going to touch the 200 million figure and might go below too, if things don't change soon. As per TRAI, Vi's active user base stood at 175.83 million during Jan 2025, which is 0.7 million less than the previous month (December 2024).
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This is a sign of concern for Vi. While the telco has been improving 4G networks, the subscribers churn rate is not going down. The active users are the ones that pay for services, and if they are going down, the revenues would ultimately be affected. What's going to be important for Vi is to add high-paying 4G/5G customers in the short-to-medium term. These customers would only be able to boost the average revenue per user (ARPU) and overall revenue levels.
Vi's credit rating boost recently would allow the telco to raise funds via debt relatively easier than before. The telco is engaged in discussions with several banks and lending insitutions to raise about Rs 25,000 crore in debt. Vi's ARPU has been growing, but it is still not close to what Jio and Airtel have reported.
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Vi's active user base has to grow in the sh0rt-term for the telco to see material improvements in business in revenues and business. While Vi lost active users, Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) added them. Airtel and Jio added 4.7 million and 0.01 million users. BSNL also added 0.7 million active users. The Q4 FY25 results will be interesting for the investors to follow.
