Telecom service provider Bharti Airtel has steadily increased its data revenue in the last nine quarters. The presence of Gopal Vittal, the new CEO, is reflecting in data growth in the last 2 quarters.
During a recent analyst presentation, Bharti Airtel said its data revenue contribution to total mobile services revenue increased to 9.2 percent in the second quarter of fiscal 2014 from 3.1 percent in Q2 FY 2012.
The substantial increase in data revenue was driven by Airtel focus on mobile Internet – 2G and 3G. Though it is focusing on 2G and 3G, Airtel is unable to make substantial inroads into 4G market. Its earlier plan to launch 4G in Delhi during Diwali did not happen.
The chart has additional details of data revenue growth.
The data revenue growth was significant ever since Gopal Vittal, the new India CEO, took over from Sanjay Kapoor. Quarter-to-quarter increase in the second quarter was 2.2 percent. Sanjay announced his intention to leave Airtel, India’s #1 telecom operator, in January 2013. He is considering entrepreneurship options at present.
Gopal Vittal, who had exposure in SingTel and SingTel’s Australian telecom operations, is focusing more on data.
Airtel’s data revenue contribution to mobile revenue in the last few quarter is the following: 7.4 percent in the first quarter of fiscal 2014, 6.5 percent in Q4 FY 2013, 5.7 percent in Q3 FY 2013, 5.2 percent in Q2 F2 2013, 4.3 percent in Q1 FY 2013, 4.1 percent in Q4 FY 2012, 3.5 percent in Q3 FY 2012 and 3.1 percent in Q2 FY 2012.
The growth driver is the significant increase in Airtel 3G subscriber base to 8 million in the second quarter from 6.8 million in first quarter of FY 2014 and 6.4 million in the fourth quarter of FY 2014. During this period, Airtel data users rose to 42.6 million in Q2 from 39.8 million in Q1 and 37.1 million in Q4 FY 2013.
Baburajan K
editor@telecomlead.com
