Airtel today announced the results for quarter ending Sept-2012 and also disclosed lot of details on the company’s strategy and 3G / 2G Data and other metrics. Without getting into the financials lets straight away get into Data / Broadband, which is of prime importance to us.
Airtel DSL Broadband division has 1.38 Mn Subscribers / Customers with ARPU of Rs 971.
Airtel 3G / Data
- Airtel has overall 40.6 Mn Data Subscribers
- Airtel 3G Network has 4.01 Mn Data Subscribers
- 2G and 3G together subscribers consume 15,879 Mn MBs in the last quarter bringing the Average Data Usage Per Customer to 133 MB
- Data ARPU at Rs 43 and Realization Per MB is 32.4 Paise [This is far better than Rs 250 / GB of 3G data which yields only 24.45 Paise ]
- Data as a percentage of Wireless Revenues is 5.2%. Total Non-Voice [Data + VAS + SMS] as a percentage of Wireless is 16.8%
Airtel Management on 3G Data and related matters
Data is seeing Traction and India has long road to go. Smartphone penetration is slower and needs to be accelerated and Airtel is working with wide range of retailers [Not sure if they are going to Release a Smartphone just like Idea did, as they have ruled out doing so in the past] Airtel has deployed analytics which tells that Data consumption is higher on Smartphone Apps. There is No Doubt about Growth in Data Services and will be sustainable.
Price Disparity between 2G Data Vs 3G Data – 2G data pricing is not realistic, far cheaper and is creating arbitrage. 2G pricing should go up and be in-line with 3G. Further UNLIMITED Plans of 6GB, 8GB are not sustainable on 3G Wireless networks. The Input costs are Up, regulatory levies will be high thus Data Pricing may go up once the Auction is over.
Airtel Management on 2G Voice Business
- Airtel Wireless Subscriber base at 185 Mn with VLR of 91.5%
- Airtel Wireless ARPU [Voice + SMS + VAS] was down to Rs 177 with MoU also going down to 417. Pure Voice ARPU is just Rs 148
- Messaging and VAS contribute 10.1% of overall Mobile Segment Revenues
Will Airtel Take the Lead Again in Second Round of Tariff Hikes ? They will weigh circle by circle as the case is and won’t shy away from taking bold decisions for tariff hikes.
On Voice Volume Growth Prospects – The number of subscribers added in the last 2 / 3 years has been phenomenal and Airtel’s MoU has suatained. Only 40% of Rural India is connected and there is also Data opportunity. Airtel is still in the game even with 950 Mn SIMs. 1800Mhz Spectrum Auction now happens on the 12th and Rs 14,000 Cr base price Holds.
A question was posed on why Airtel India has 8x times more network infrastructure and just 2.5x times more revenue compared to Airtel Africa – Manoj Kohli, heading Airtel Africa operations was at his best when he said that he will consider exporting Spectrum from Africa to India 🙂 Additionally, Africa provides larger spectrum capacities and also has lower traffic requirements compared to India.