RJio only telco to gain market share in Q3

NEW DELHI: In the December quarter, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd was the only telecom services provider to report growth in market share, at the cost of Bharti Airtel Ltd and Vodafone Itd, according to analysts, who cited data by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

Brokerage firm Axis Capital said that while the adjusted gross revenue of the telecom industry improved in the quarter ended December to 443.1 bln rupees, led by more users converting to 4G from 2G and upgrading to higher data packs, only Reliance Jio reported a quarter-on-quarter market share improvement, but Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea posted a decline.

Bharti Airtel's adjusted gross revenue growth of 4.4% on quarter came in lower than its quarterly filing at 6.8% sequentially for the second quarter in a row, which distorts its adjusted gross revenue market share, ICICI Securities Ltd said, adding that the disconnect was due to cash as against accrual accounting, and it should converge in the coming quarters.

Hence, the revenue market share of the Sunil Mittal-led telecom company fell 33 basis points on quarter to 31.9% as of December-end, while that of Vodafone Idea was down at 21.1% from 21.3% in the previous quarter. The market share of Reliance Jio rose 100 bps quarter-on-quarter to 40%.

Analysts were disappointed to see a year-on-year revenue decline for Vodafone Idea despite a tariff hike in December 2019, which shows underlying weakness in operations. However, deceleration in subscriber loss and higher 4G addition helped sequential growth.

Analysts said the growth in Reliance Jio's market share came from across circles.