INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
onwards, as the full impact of its minimum recharge plans kick in and more 2G and 3G users upgrade to 4G.
Chief executive Gopal Vittal said
Friday the biggest ARPU growth drivers for Airtel would be higher contributions from the minimum recharge plans, benefits accruing from the
recent price hike of the Rs 99 base bundled pack to Rs 119, rapid 2G customer upgrades to 4G and growing uptake of post-paid plans in the Rs
the telco surprise the market which had expected a loss
Analysts said that the 4.1% sequential ARPU expansion to Rs104 and largely flattish India revenue in Q3 is signal that the worst could be
in coming quarters with the full impact of the minimum recharge plans and re-classification of Airtel customers as only those that transact
and generate revenues for the company.
The telco lost 58 million mobile phone customers in the December alone following the modification in
efforts to drive its core 2G user base to go 4G is rapidly refarming its 900 Mhz band spectrum for LTE services and will do the same with
Airtel CEO though said demand for smartphones and overall pace of feature phone users upgrading to smartphones would only rise if top device
makers launch high quality smartphones in the Rs 4,000-5,000 price-range.
At present, some 100 million smartphones get incrementally added
capex would start falling from next fiscal as site expansion would be more disciplined and purely linked to revenue and customer experience
Rs26,000 crore this FY.
To fund its capex needs, the company has been raising funds through stake sales in its tower unit, Bharti Infratel,
ET has reported that Airtel is exploring a Rs12,000-Rs15,000 crore rights issue.
