Higher data usage & 4G additions to boost Airtel, Jio revenues in Q1

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio are set to report sequential mobile revenue growth in the fiscal first quarter, helped by higher data usage levels and strong 4G user additions, while Vodafone Idea (Vi) will likely report contraction, stung by the continuing trend of heavy customer losses. Analysts, though, expect Airtel to report stronger average revenue per user (ARPU) growth than Jio in the April-June quarter, on the back of decent postpaid user additions and a pick-up in 2G to 4G conversions.

Jio's ARPU growth is likely to be restricted due to the robust adoption of unlimited data by its 5G users. Vi may report sequential ARPU growth, helped by rising penetration of its unlimited plans and an extra day in the quarter.

Jio, however, is expected to add more customers than Airtel, with additions at the latter partly dragged by the impact of the sharp hike taken in base prepaid rates across India. «Bharti and Jio should continue to report double-digit on-year sales growth in Q1FY24, and they are also positioned in the medium-term with growth levers such as subscriber upgrades, market share gains and tariff hikes...the latter, though delayed, are just a matter of time,» BNP Paribas said in a report.

Jio and Airtel also have a headstart over Vi on the 5G services front, having covered over 6,000 and 3,500 cities/towns respectively. Vi hasn't even announced a launch date, shackled by its delayed fundraise.ICICI Securities estimates Airtel and Jio to report 3.4% and 2.3% sequential growth in their India mobile revenue, respectively in April-June.