Airtel Might Post Highest ARPU In Q4 2020: Report

The telecom sector is under a lot of pressure due to lockdown as they have to offer connectivity along with free services. The operators have extended the validity and free incoming calls until April 17, 2020. However, a news report suggested that despite a lot of crisis, there is still hope that the sector might recover.

The report said that the lockdown is likely to increase the average revenue per user (ARPU) in March as operators have recently increased the tariffs prices. The brokerage and research firm Emkay Global said that data usage has also been increased.

The report said "We expect Bharti Airtel to record healthy performance with 17 percent sequential growth in wireless revenue, driven by an ARPU increase of 13 percent. Vodafone Idea should record relatively lower growth in underlying ARPU, while subscriber loss should aid ARPU growth of 12 percent quarter-on-quarter," the firm said.

The report also suggested that the demand for data has been increased by 13 percent as against 10 percent earlier. It added the demand for data is likely to increase further in the coming days. The brokerage firm states that Reliance Jio is likely to post only five percent growth in the APRU (close to Rs. 135). Furthermore, Reliance Jio might add some subscribers.

"EBITDA should see 15 percent growth QoQ, while PAT increase will be restricted due to higher depreciation and interest charges," Emkay Global said. The report also pointed out that the Airtel revenue from the wireless business is likely to report 17 percent growth, while there will be a 13 percent jump in data consumption. Notably, the firm added that the demand for data will rise further due to the nationwide lockdown.

Lastly, the brokerage estimated that the data consumption from Vodafone-Idea subscribers is expected to increase by only two percent. However, its revenue from its wireless business might post 9.3 jumps.