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.
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.
According to information on Jio’s website, all existing users, including those on prepaid plan, can seamlessly upgrade to this new plan.
Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel's net worth has seen significant improvements since the last spectrum auction in August 2022, while Vodafone Idea's negative net worth has widened. The upcoming auction on June 6 will see the three telecom players competing for Rs 96,317.65 crore worth of 5G airwaves. Reliance Jio's net worth as of March 31, 2023, was Rs 2,15,992 crore, Airtel's net worth rose to Rs 86,260 crore by December 31, 2023, and Vodafone Idea's net worth registered a negative of Rs 1,16,886 crore.
Earlier this week, only Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea put in applications with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to participate in the 5G airwaves sale that starts June 6.
A senior Nxtra Data executive told ET: "We've engineered our data centres to withstand high temperatures and also designed overall HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning) systems to function optimally within ambient temperatures ranging from 48 to 50 degrees Celsius."
India's next 5G spectrum auction, a pivotal event in the telecom sector, commences on June 6. Analysts anticipate Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi) to target particular bands in markets where they have renewals, while Reliance Jio's interest is subdued due to its existing 5G airwaves and absence of renewals for six years.
Reliance Jio added more active subscribers than its rivals, but number two telco Bharti Airtel added higher paying 4G and 5G users in March 2024.
Industry experts and analysts expect the upcoming spectrum sale to be a muted affair as India’s top telcos have adequate 5G airwaves for their current needs. The auction is likely to only see some selective buying by Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi), who have to renew their airwaves in a few circles.
“In India, there are almost 9,000 new digital-native businesses such as food-tech, insure-tech, ecommerce, etc., added each year which are increasing the need for customer support services through all communication channels such as SMS, WhatsApp, chatbots and ultimately voice calls,” said Angira Agrawal, business head, India & Saarc at Exotel. The company is the leader in the virtual call routing segment and has handled peak-hour volumes of 70 million calls a day.
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