The country’s top three private telecom operators will resort to another round of tariff hike in the second half of the current fiscal and close out FY13 with revenue growth of 20-25%, said a report on Tuesday.
The research wing of domestic rating agency Crisil said in a report that an increase in average revenue per user is essential for the industry to invest in networks and spectrum, and if they do not, it could result in poor service offerings. could.
After years of stiff competition following the entry of deep-pocketed Reliance Jio, the industry started increasing tariffs from December 2019.
“…the revenues of the top three players are expected to witness a strong growth of 20-25% this fiscal,” the note said, adding that the operating profit margin during the financial year would have increased by 1.80-2.20. % will expand.
It said that after a slow growth of 5% in ARPU (average revenue per user) in FY12, the significant number is set to grow by 15-20% in FY13 as the hike made in the previous fiscal would have had full impact. Is. And also on the back of fresh hike which is expected in the second half of the current fiscal.
It added that since players are expected to increase network and regulatory capital expenditure in FY23, the increase in ARPU and fee hike may ease some of the pressure on their books.
The report said that in the last financial year, there was a decline in the total subscriber base as 370 million inactive users were removed, adding that there has been an increase in active subscribers during the year, the report said.
The three top telcos saw a 3% increase in the number of active users adding 2.90 crore subscribers, it said.
Reliance Jio saw a sharp decline in its total subscriber base between August 2021 and February 2022. However, the share of its active customers reached 94% in March 2022, compared to 78% in the first quarter of the previous fiscal. Added 110 crore active customers during the financial year to take its share of active users to 99%.
The rating agency said that for Vodafone Idea, it was a “mixed bag” during FY23 as the company lost 30 million active customers due to low capex and “deterioration of services” in 4G.