Data tariffs stabilise after 2.5 yrs, Airtel pips Jio in monthly data usage

The proportion of data subscribers to the total subscribers has increased rapidly for Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea with increase in broadband customers and growing data usage. 

The data subscribers inreased from 28-33 per cent in Q1FY19 to 41-44 per cent in Q4FY19. At the same time, the share of broadband (3G+4G) increased to 31-33 per cent in Q4FY19 from 17-22 per cent in Q1FY19. An India Ratings report claimed that Bharti Airtel has overtaken Reliance Jio in average monthly data usage at 11 GB per user. 

While this augurs well for future revenue growth of the telcos, analysts feel that revenue recovery may continue at a slower pace as prorpotion of high average revenue per user (ARPU) subscribers in the data and broadband categories are low at 40-44 per cent and 30 per cent respectively at the moment. 

The green shoots, however, are visible as data tariffs have stabilised since February 2019 after falling steadily for the last two and half years. However, Reliance Jio's data tariffs remain at a discount of 25-30 per cent to incumbent telcos. 

This has helped Jio to continue to garner market share, indicating that the competitive pressure has not yet subsided.