Impressive subscriber growth continues, Prabhudas Lilladher

India’s telecom operator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India recently released its January 2023 data, highlighting continued subscriber migration from Vodafone Idea Ltd. and BSNL to top two dominant players – Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel Ltd. with net wireless addition of over 1.65 million and 1.28 million.

Their subscriber share in top ten circles (which accounts for 68.2% of Q3 FY23 adjusted gross revenue, stood at 71.2%. Bharti Airtel added 2.8 million mobile broadband subscribers in Jan-23 and its share in overall subscriber stands at 62.8% (up 486 basis points YoY). Company’s visitor location register subscriber count was also up 1.3 million month-on-month (at 99.3%).

Airtel had raised base 2G tariff plan to Rs 155 from Rs 99 in Nov-22 in two circles of Orissa and Haryana net subscriber loss in Jan-23 for Orissa (3.1% of subscribers) was 0.07 million, while Haryana stood flat.

We believe that telecom industry will continue to consolidate with top-two players gaining subscriber share at expense of peers. Bharti Airtel has subsequently raised minimum recharge pack to Rs 155 in all 22 circles, we will watch out for net subscriber addition trend in coming months. Bloomberg