Airtel shines with more broadband network, 4G subscribers and ARPU

Airtel India CEO Gopal Vittal has revealed the telecom operator’s main achievements during the June quarter of 2019.
airtelThanks

Airtel India’s 4G subscriber base across India increased 9.6 percent to 95.173 million in June quarter from 86.808 million in March quarter of 2019.

Airtel India’s data usage per customer increased 8 percent to 11,930 MBs in June quarter vs 11,048 MBs in March quarter of 2019.

Airtel India has 4.315 million M2M customers.

Airtel India’s digital TV customers increased 4.1 percent quarter on quarter to 16.027 million during the first quarter of fiscal 2019-20.

Airtel India lost 1.5 million mobile phone customers in the June quarter of 2019 as part of the focus on high-ARPU users across India. As a result, the mobile ARPU of Airtel increased 5.1 percent to Rs 129 per month.

“We remain focused on providing value to customers through our rewards platform, Airtel Thanks. This has led to the second consecutive quarter of ARPU increase. We have now extended our flagship Airtel Thanks program to our broadband customers,” Gopal Vittal said in a statement.

Capex

Airtel India has lowered its Capex by 45 percent to Rs 4,322.3 crore in June quarter of 2019 from Rs 7,866.4 crore in June quarter of 2018.

Airtel has re-farmed spectrum from 3G networks to 4G across both the 900 as well as 2100 bands and begun the process of shutting down 3G networks in India. “This has enabled us to deliver improved indoor coverage as well as enhance our capacities,” Gopal Vittal said on Thursday.

Airtel India’s mobile business has incurred a Capex of Rs 3,642.6 crore, primarily to enhance its indoor coverage, voice quality and data capacities.

Airtel India had 182,600 network towers vs 167,355 network towers in the same quarter last year. Airtel India has 177,141 mobile broadband towers. Airtel India has 443,804 mobile broadband base stations vs 320,204 in the same quarter last year vs 417,613 in the previous quarter.

Airtel India revenue rose 2.8 percent to Rs 15,345 crore. Airtel’s total revenues reached Rs 20,738 crore, registering 4.7 percent increase during the first quarter of financial year 2019-20. Airtel reported net loss — after exceptional items – of Rs 2,866 crore.