Telecom industry loses 82 lakh subscribers in April, pressure to continue: Ind-Ra

30 Jul 2020 Evaluate

India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) in its latest report stated that telecom industry has lost 82 lakh subscribers during the complete lockdown in April, and COVID-19 pandemic will continue to keep customer additions under pressure. It added that the decline in subscriber base during April was preceded by a loss of 28 lakh connections in March, which saw the lockdown being imposed towards the end. As per the report, the biggest losers were Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, while sector leader Reliance Jio witnessed a growth in its base.

The report said the industry-wide subscriber base declined month-on-month by 2.8 million and 8.2 million in March and April 2020, respectively. The decline was attributable to a reduction in the subscriber base of Vodafone Idea (VIL) and Bharti Airtel, which has more than offset the growth in the subscriber base of Reliance Jio Infocomm. It noted that the impact is due to the lockdown imposed after the outbreak of COVID-19 towards end-March 2020 and continued for the full month of April 2020. The addition in the subscriber base would remain under pressure in the coming months due to COVID-19.

However, the agency's report said broadband subscriber base declined by 11.1 million subscribers in April, the first month of decline in the last two years. It attributed the dip in broadband subscribers also to the lockdown and added that their share of the overall base has declined marginally to 57% in April from the level of 58% in March. From a revenue perspective, the agency said tariff carried out in December 2019 resulted in an 11% growth in industry-wide revenue to Rs 402 billion in the March quarter as compared to the preceding three month period. It highlighted that the momentum in revenue growth needs to be monitored, as besides tariffs, it is susceptible to movements in subscriber base - which declined in March and April 2020.

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