Fixed wireless access (FWA) is being seen as the crucial first use case in 5G that will enable telcos like Airtel and Jio to monetise the huge investments made on deployment of the technology, amidst telcos offering unlimited 5G speeds to mobile phone users.
None of Jio’s licences are coming up for renewal while Airtel and Vi need to renew in 6 and 2 circles, respectively, in 900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands.
Bharti Airtel Ltd. key Products/Revenue Segments include Service Revenue and Sale of Products for the year ending 31-Mar-2022.
“I think India will be well served if it has three private operators. We (read: Airtel) are also pushing hard every day… it has always been a brutally competitive marketplace ever since I’ve been around and ever since the company has been around, so downs keep happening, but you just need to be at the top of your game in terms of execution to continue to deliver a sustained performance,” Vittal said at Airtel's fiscal fourth quarter earnings call Wednesday.
“We believe share defence, falling capex and resumption of price repair can drive up ROIC (Return on Invested Capital) and hasten deleverage. The stock continues to appear fully priced and bakes in a punchy tariff hike, limiting potential upside,” JP Morgan said in a research note.
Bharti Hexacom’s revenues for the quarter ended March, in turn, rose, 8% on-year to Rs 1868 crore, helped by improved realisations as well as strong 4G/5G customer additions during the year.
Airtel’s India revenue rose 13% from the year earlier, to Rs 28,512.8 crore, boosted by strong 4G and 5G user additions and data consumption growth. Net profit before exceptional items was Rs 2,461.6 crore. India mobile revenue, which contributes around 78% to the total, grew 2% sequentially and 13% from the year earlier in the fiscal fourth quarter to Rs 22,065.7 crore.
Jio reported an ARPU of Rs 181.7 for the quarter to March, while the numbers for Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi) were Rs 208 and Rs 145 respectively for the October-December 2023 period. Bharti Airtel and Vi have yet to report the March quarter numbers.
The Department of Consumer Affairs officials last week discussed the proposed guidelines at a meeting with officials of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), as well as executives from Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea, Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) and industry association COAI.
In Q4FY23, Bharti Airtel had reported a consolidated PAT of Rs 3,005 crore attributable to the owners of the company. If the non-controlling interest is added to it, the PAT for the period becomes Rs 4,226 crore. The revenue from operations for the quarter was reported at Rs 36,009 crore.
The analysts, however, cautioned that Vi would need to give about Rs 22,000 crore of bank guarantees (BGs) to the government on completion of payment moratorium on regulatory payouts in September 2025, which would again sharply increase the telco’s bank exposure in coming years. Over the past two years, Vi had managed to sharply cut bank debt to Rs 4,500 crore currently.
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