Telecom industry is at last seeing healthy improvement in key parameters

But more gains are crucial to telecom industry given investment plans and elevated debt levels

Bharti Airtel was the third telecom major to declare January-March quarter (Q4) results and industry trends are clearly improving. Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea (VIL) and Airtel together control 90 per cent subscriber market share. All three raised tariffs in December, leading to higher ARPU (average revenue per user, per month). Revenue is up and EDITDA margins have improved for all. EBITDA is earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.

The 5G spectrum auctions are due in June-July assuming Cabinet clears TRAI’s proposal. Base auction prices have been cut by 35-40 per cent for most bands, compared to the 2018 valuations.