Telecom Lead India: Bharti Airtel’s 3G subscribers reached 6.4 million in the fourth quarter of FY 2013.
Airtel says data continues to lead the mobile segment growth in India, through deeper penetration and consumption.
Data consumption continues to grow 20 percent every quarter and has reached 24 billion MBs in this quarter. Data now contributes around 6.5 percent of the total mobile revenues (against 5.7 percent in Q3 FY 2013).
Bharti Airtel had 43.5 million Data (mobile internet) customers, of which 6.4 million used 3G data services. Data ARPU reached Rs 55, helped by average data download of 187 MBs per user per month (an increase of 26 MB per user over previous quarter), and blended data realization rate being stable at 29.27 paisa per MB.
In India, Bharti Airtel’s 3G sites increased to 24,573 in Q4 from 22,515 in Q3. Wireless data revenues grew by 66 percent to Rs 22,362 million during the year, accounting for 5.4 percent of the total wireless revenues (3.5 percent in the previous year).
AFRICA
In Africa, Airtel’s 3G sites rose to 5,676 in Q4 from 5,527 in Q3.
The operating metrics of our African business are a mixed bag: growth in customer base by 10.6 million, traffic up by 29 percent, voice minute usage per customer up from 124 minutes to 131 minutes, and data accounted for 3.8 percent of overall revenues, up from 2.9 percent last year.
However, due to the pricing pressures, voice realization per minute fell from 5.16 cents to 4.06 cents, and ARPU declined from $6.4 to $5.3.
In Africa, non voice revenue, which includes revenue from services other than voice i.e., Messaging & VAS, Data, sale of devices, others etc. has significantly improved over the year and contributed approximately 17.7 percent of the total revenues in the quarter ended March 31, 2013 as compared to 10.6 percent in the same quarter last year.
With a focus on offering superior data experience against competition, the Company launched its 3G services in 12 countries with the roll out of 5,676
3G sites.
The company had 14.5 million Data (Mobile Internet) customers, which
represent 22.8 percent of its total customer base. Data ARPU came in at US$1.2 per month, helped by average data download of 73 MBs per user per month (an increase of 15MB per user over previous quarter), and blended data realization rate of US¢1.64.
