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India's total wireless subscriber base declined marginally MoM by 6 lakh subscribers on a net basis, reaching 114.1 crore in April

While Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel gained subscribers, Vodafone Idea and BSNL continued the trend of losing subscribers

Our Q1FY24E estimates suggest a good quarter for Bharti Airtel (Bharti), aided by strong ARPU growth of 2.9% QoQ to Rs199, and continued strong performance for non mobile segment. Airtel Africa’s performance may be hindered by Nigerian currency devaluation, while underlying growth is likely to be healthy.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released its data on subscribers (subs) for Apr’23. Industry-wide active sub base rose by 4.1mn MoM (vs rise of 6.7mn in Mar’23 and rise of 3.4mn average in the past six months) with Bharti Airtel (Bharti) adding only 0.7mn subs (vs 1.8mn in the past six months), impacted by an increase in minimum recharge.

Industry AGR (incl. NLD) in Q4FY23 grew 1.4% QoQ / 9.1% YoY to Rs560bn. Bharti Airtel’s (Bharti) AGR market share was at 36.5%, up 57bps YoY, with YoY incremental AGR of Rs20bn vs RJio’s Rs24bn. The latter’s AGR market share improved by 86bps YoY to 41.7%.

India's total wireless subscriber base rose marginally MoM by 23.6 lakh subscribers on a net basis, to reach 114 crore in March

While Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel gained subscribers, Vodafone Idea and BSNL continued the trend of losing subscribers

India's wireless subscriber count declined marginally MoM by 10.5 lakh on a net basis to reach 113.9 crore in February.

While Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel gained subscribers, Vodafone Idea and BSNL continued to lose subscribers.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released its data on subscribers (subs) for Feb’23. Industry-wide active sub base rose by 2.8mn MoM (vs rise of 3.9mn in Jan’23 and rise of 1.9mn average in past six months) with Bharti Airtel (Bharti) adding 0.8mn subs (vs 1.7mn in past six months); it was adversely impacted by the rise in minimum recharge.

Our Q4FY23E estimates suggest a deceleration in mobile revenue growth QoQ across telcos due to two less days during the quarter, and absence of tariff hikes. Subscriber (sub) base for Bharti and RJio is likely to expand while that for VIL will most likely continue to shrink.