Less Than Two In 10 People Subscribed, Used 5G Network In Q4 FY24: ICICI Securities
The brokerage has a 'buy' rating on Bharti Airtel and a 'hold' rating on Vodafone Idea.
In India, 5G subscriptions accounted for 13.6% of the total subscriptions and 5G data accounted for 16.9% of the total data usage in the fourth quarter of the last financial year, according to ICICI Securities.
Consumer spending on mobile services grew 8.5% year-on-year to Rs 55,500 crore. Inter-company settlements have also risen by 4.4% YoY, contributing to an 8.7% YoY increase in net revenue and outpacing consumer expenditures, it said.
The average revenue per user based on consumer spending grew by 0.7% quarter-on-quarter and 6.8% YoY, reaching Rs 159, driven by premiumisation, according to a report dated July 7.
The brokerage has a 'buy' rating on Bharti Airtel Ltd. and a 'hold' rating on Vodafone Idea Ltd.
In the March quarter, postpaid net revenue declined 1.9% QoQ and 7.8% YoY to Rs 5,100 crore. Prepaid net revenue rose 2% QoQ and 8.8% YoY, totaling Rs 48,100 crore.
Postpaid ARPU, based on net revenue, decreased 0.7% QoQ and 8.3% YoY to Rs 188, likely due to the increase in machine-to-machine SIM cards, which have a lower ARPU. Prepaid ARPU increased 0.8% QoQ and 8% YoY to Rs 151, it said.
5G Subscriptions
5G penetration: reached 13.6% of total subscribers in Q4 FY24.
5G subscriber base: grew by 2.8 crore to 15.9 crore.
4G subscriber base: decreased by 1.2% or 85 lakh to 71 crore.
Market shares of top telecom players:
RJio (4G+5G): flattish at 54.1%.
Bharti Airtel (4G+5G): Improved by 25 basis points to 29.1%.
VIL (4G): Decreased by 25 basis points to 14.5%.
Total subscriber base: increased by 0.6% QoQ to 116.5 crore.
Postpaid subscribers: grew by 9% QoQ to 9.4 crore.
5G Data Accounts For 16.9% Of Usage In Q4FY24
5G data usage: reached 16.9% of total data consumption.
Overall data usage: grew 6.2% QoQ to 52,637 billion megabytes.
5G data growth: increased by 42.5% QoQ to 8,891 billion megabytes.
2G data volume: decreased by 4.4% QoQ.
3G data volume: decreased by 8.3% QoQ.
Market share in data usage:
Airtel: 33% (stable QoQ).
VIL: 11.5% (down 65 basis points QoQ).
Jio: 54.7% (up 50 basis points QoQ).
Industry minutes of usage:
Total minutes: increased by 4.9% QoQ to 3,469 billion.
Airtel's share fell to 34.9% (down 25 basis points QoQ).
VIL's share fell to 11.6% (down 55 basis points QoQ).
Jio's share increased to 41.5% (up 10 basis points QoQ).
