Telecom Lead Asia: Airtel said its non-voice revenues contributed 28.5 percent of the total revenues in Q3 2012-13, up 25.4 percent in the same quarter last year.
In Q3, the company had 262.3 million customers (up 8 percent) consisting of 251.1 million mobile, 3.3 million telemedia and 7.9 million digital TV customers.
Airtel posted revenues of Rs 202,395 million, up 10 percent.
Net income for the quarter was Rs 2,837 million, down 72 percent. Higher depreciation & amortization expenses (Rs 3,160 million), net interest cost (Rs 2,837 million), derivative & exchange fluctuation losses (Rs 2,606 million) and tax provisions (Rs 1,089 million) have impacted net profit.
3G customers of Airtel in Africa and India were 6.8 million.
The average monthly churn at 5.9 percent for the quarter ended December 31, 2012 has significantly come down from earlier levels of more than 8 percent. This improvement in churn is an outcome of disciplined approach to the new customer acquisition process.
INDIA AND SE ASIA OPERATIONS
Airtel’s blended ARPU touched Rs 185 ($3.4) per month.
Voice ARPU was Rs 153 and voice realization was 35.2 paisa per minute.
Airtel’s value added services (VAS), which includes SMS, MMS, Ring Back Tones, Airtel Talkies, Music on Demand etc. contributed to approximately 9.9 percent of the total revenues of the segment. Airtel adopted the TRAI regulation on seeking double confirmation before activation of value added services and faced temporary decline in VAS revenues.
Data consumption grew at 25 percent on sequential basis and is about to cross 20 billion MBs per quarter.
Data ARPU was Rs 47, helped by average data download of 161 MBs per user per month, and blended data realization rate of 29.3 paisa per MB.
Airtel had 41.5 million data (mobile internet) customers, of which 5.2 million used 3G services.
The revenues for the quarter ended December 31, 2012 for mobile services stood at Rs 109,364 million, a growth of 7 percent over the corresponding quarter last year. The revenue from this segment contributed to 76.7 percent of the total revenues of India & South Asia.
Airtel had approximately 1.4 million broadband (DSL) customers. The ARPU for the quarter was Rs 973 (US$ 17.9) per month.
Airtel Business’ revenues were Rs 14,219 million, up 20 percent. The revenue from this segment contributed to 10.0 percent of the total revenues of India and South Asia.
AIRTEL’S AFRICAN OPERATIONS
The telecom market in Africa has grown in local currency terms in single digits this year. Political and economic developments as well as aggressive pricing by market leaders and newer players have been the main reasons for this subdued market growth.
Airtel had 61.7 million GSM mobile customers on its network. It added 3.0 million customers during the quarter and 10.7 million customers during the calendar year 2012.
The ARPU for the quarter was US$ 6.2 per month. Minutes on the network grew by 2.5 Bn (+11 percent) over the previous quarter ended September 30, 2012 and by 7.7 Bn (+42 percent) over the quarter ended December 31, 2011.
The blended monthly voice usage per customer during the quarter ended December 31, 2012 jumped to 144 minutes, reflecting a significant improvement from usage level of 138 minutes in the previous quarter, and from 125 minutes in the same quarter last year.
Non voice revenue, which includes revenue from services other than voice i.e., Messaging & VAS (including SMS, GPRS, MMS, Ring Back Tone, Airtel Talkies, Music on Demand), data, others etc. contributed to approximately 15.1 percent of the total revenues of the segment.
Airtel has launched 3G in 11 countries with roll out of 5,527 sites. The number of 2G sites has increased by 16 percent to 16,371 over December 31, 2011.
