India second among 21 countries in H1 2022 Arpu rise, shows data

Also ranked 6th among 26 countries in data usage growth over same period

India has grabbed the Number 2 spot amongst telcos across 21 countries in H1 2022 for the highest increase in average revenue per user (Arpu). Indian telcos achieved a 20-25 per cent increase in Arpu, coming after Turkey, whose economy faced hyper-inflation during this period. 

A study by global research firm Tefficient, which analyses international telco competitiveness, reveals that 11 countries have seen a fall in their Arpus, ranging from 1 per cent to as high as 16 per cent (in the Netherlands). These include South Korea, Singapore, France, Norway, Austria, Hong Kong, amongst others. This is despite the launch of 5G services in these countries. And even among the seven other countries where Arpus have risen during this period, it has gone up only marginally — between 0.1 per cent to less than 5 per cent — in China, UK, France, Taiwan and Croatia.   

The increase in the Arpu of Indian telcos has been facilitated by going for a tariff increase this year after they dithered over the decision for months. The two major players, Airtel and Jio, are already close to achieving their first target of hitting an Arpu of Rs 200, and then ramping it up to Rs 300 with 5G. However, both telcos have kept away from charging a premium on their 5G services.

The other good news is that India was the only one amongst 21 countries where telcos did not see any erosion of their total mobile services revenues per gigabyte (GB) in H1 2022 over the same period in the previous year. In fact, it turned the tide after many years, with an increase in revenue of 0.1 per cent per GB of usage. In H1 2021, telcos in India faced a revenue erosion of over 9 per cent per GB, and in H1 2020, it was down 13 per cent. The data also shows that India climbed to the sixth rank amongst 26 countries in the first half of 2022 in terms of data usage growth per SIM, a huge jump from its No 21 rank over the same period last year.

Even so, the country is ranked 19th in terms of total data used per GB per SIM, which is at 10.2 GB in H1 2022 compared to 8.6 GB in the same period last year. Countries like China, Taiwan, Korea, Finland are far ahead of India in this regard, although UK, France, Singapore and Spain lag behind.      

  

Of course, that India has shot up in the rankings has been due to the fact that many other countries saw a substantial slowing down in the first six months of 2022, even though many of them moved to 5G. While India’s data usage per SIM grew by 24 per cent in H1 2022, continuing at the same pace as in H1 2021, China’s data usage per GB per SIM slowed down, going up by only 16 per cent and, hence, making the country drop to the 16th rank. In HI 2021 it had grown by 38 per cent, catapulting China to the fifth rank.

Similarly, data usage in Singapore in H1 2021 climbed by 45 per cent, putting it at the Number 2 spot. But in the first half of this year, the data usage growth  has slowed down to 16 per cent, pushing Singapore back to the 18th rank.

 Countries like Korea, UK, Spain and Malaysia have all seen a substantial drop in their data usage growth in H1 2022, compared to HI 2021.