Aircel, BSNL, RCom eat into revenue market share of top 3 operators

TRAI data shows Airtel's revenue market share declined by about 45 basis points

During the second quarter ended 30 September, 2013, Aircel, Reliance Communications (RCom) and state-run BSNL and MTNL (together) have gained market share in revenue terms, while the country’s top three telcos – Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular witnessed decline in revenue market share.

According to data published by The Telecom regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Aircel’s revenue market share in July-September quarter increased about 34 basis points, followed by BSNL and MTNL together by about 30 basis points and Anil Ambani-led RCom by about 26 basis points.

On the other hand, the country’s largest telecom operator by subscriber base Bharti Airtel’s revenue market share declined by about 45 basis points, followed by Vodafone (by about 31 basis points) and Idea Cellular (by about 33 basis points). Tata Teleservices also reported marginal drop in revenue market share, while other smaller telcos like Sistema Shyam Teleservices and Videocon Telecommunications witnessed a rise in revenue market share.

During the quarter, the top three telcos – Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular have discontinued free minutes which have resulted in better realization, but revenue has eroded in some markets, mainly in rural areas, according to sector analysts.

During the July September quarter, Bharti Airtel’s revenue market share was at around 30.4%, followed by Vodafone (around 23%) and Idea Cellular (around 15.8%).

While Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular reported marginal increase in voice realization during the July-September quarter as compared with the previous quarter, Vodafone’s voice realization dropped marginally.

In September, Idea and Vodafone added more than 12 lakh new customers, and Bharti added 11.6 lakh subscribers. Aircel gained 6.4 lakh new users and Videocon added 3.1 lakh subscribers, according to TRAI data.