Telcos see sharp rise in data usage but minor gains in Arpu

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd, Bharti Airtel Ltd, and Vodafone Idea witnessed a surge in data consumption in the June quarter but did not register proportional rise in average revenue per user (Arpu). However, telecom operators did not gain in terms of Arpu, despite the rise in data usage with the lockdown put in place to contain the spread of Covid-19 forcing people to remain indoors and work remotely, as customers were consuming more data compared to pre-covid-19 times but within the range of their existing plans, said analysts. In pre-covid-19 days most consumers would have unutilised data at the end of the billing cycle, so, they had to switch to expensive plans for extra data during the lockdown, they added.

Airtel’s Arpu was up just 1.8% sequentially and 21.3% from the year-ago to ₹157, despite a whopping 73% year-on-year growth during the quarter. The Sunil Mittal-led telco registered the highest-ever monthly data usage per subscriber at 16.3 GB. Reliance Jio saw a 30.2% y-o-y rise in wireless data usage during Q1FY21, but its Arpu rose from ₹130.6 in the preceding quarter and ₹122 a year-earlier to ₹140.3. Vodafone Idea reported data volume growth of 10.6% q-o-q and 40.4% y-o-y, to post the highest growth in the last six quarters, but witnessed a dip in its Arpu. During Q1 FY21, Vodafone Idea also rolled out free validity extensions and top ups for almost 100 million customers of their 280 million user base, which further weighed negatively on its Arpu.