Pure Wireless Operator Idea Cellular reported that it has added 1Mn 3G Subscribers in Q1-2013. Total data subs grew by 4.5 mn to 26.2 mn. Some more metrics on Wireless Data Usage of Idea Cellular as below,
Average Data Usage by Subscriber – 163MB [Down from 167 MB last Quarter]
Data ARPU for the Company – Rs 55 [Just ~1 USD]
Data Average Revenue Per MB- Rs 0.339 up from Rs 0.310 [11% sequential increase]
Data as a % of revenues increased to 15.2% vs. 14.6% in 3Q
The recent discounting of smartphones by handset vendors such as Apple / Samsung / Nokia could be one of the drivers behind the rise of Data Usage, but India is still couple of years behind China when it comes to 3G / Data adoption and adding to operators woes is the Corrupt Government & Bureaucracy demanding a cut literally in every decision it is making.
Idea Cellular Voice Business
Voice traffic rose 8.5% qoq, reversing the falling momentum trend of the preceding three quarters. The growth was driven by traffic market-share gains driven by the scale-down of new telcos such as Uninor. A pick-up in underlying subscriber growth, possibly on a shift in the management approach from controlling acquisition costs to business expansion and lastly the brand strength.
Voice ARPM, at 41.2p, was practically flat and is disappointing considering one would have expected that a drop in competitive intensity and incumbents’ focus on curtailing discounts / promotions would result in improved realizations. In some cases, opportunistic tariff discounts by incumbents to lure customers of smaller operators who were shutting networks could have prevented the overall RPM from going up. However, a 6% rise in MoU over previous quarter explains the management strategy.
The declining churn (down from 6.9% in 3Q to 4.3% in 4Q) indicates that the company is focusing on improving quality of subs and the number of SIM flippers (consumers taking advantage of price arbitrage) is declining in the market. We do not see any mention of Idea Wi-Fi Broadband launched in select cities, though we expect some update later this afternoon from the management. Idea’s results show the first firm signs of reduction in competitive intensity in the Indian telecom sector.