Arpu vs users: Telecom tariff hikes in July trigger surprising trends

The hike's biggest impact has been the customer churn: India's mobile service market has lost 16.81 million connections since July

If monthly Arpu (average revenue per user) is like a currency to evaluate the health of a telecom operator, subscriber numbers are its mainstay. Recent developments establish that the two most critical metrics in the telecom universe — Arpu and subscriber numbers — are two sides of the same coin, with tariff being the proverbial X factor.  

 

After 30 months of holding on to the same tariff levels fearing that any hike would trigger loss of customers, companies decided to bite the bullet in July this year and raised prices across the board.

 

The subscriber churn has not stopped ever