Reliance Jio Infocomm has become a strong No. 2 in India by revenue market share (RMS) in the January-March quarter, racing ahead of Bharti Airtel, while Vodafone Idea, however, managed to keep its first spot with its RMS rising for the first time after 10 quarters of sequential decline, analysts said.
The Rise Of Jio
Jio recorded a sequential RMS jump of 182 basis points to 31.7% in the March quarter, while the Sunil Mittal-led telco slowed 285 bps to 27.3%. In turn, market leader Vodafone Idea reported a small sequential increase of 57 bps in RMS to 32.2 percent, brokerage Emkay Global said in a study analyzing economic information collected by India’s Telecom Regulatory Authority (Trai).
“Jio continues to be market leader across category A, B & C circles while Vodafone Idea retains the leadership of the subway industry,” Rajiv Sharma, SBICap Securities study co-head, said in a note.
By comparison, in key markets such as Karnataka (-15 percent), Tamil Nadu (-16 percent), Delhi (-33 percent) and Andhra Pradesh (-8 percent), Bharti Airtel endured sequential income decreases, culminating in the nation’s second-largest telco being relegated to third place on the RMS count.
The Vodafone-Idea Merger:
Vodafone Idea, which began reporting mixed RMS information from FY19’s September quarter after last August’s merger, reported dips on this score. Before the merger, in the June quarter of FY17, formerly Vodafone India and Idea CellularNSE -0.76 percent reported last RMS development.
However, Jio, owned by Mukesh Ambani, has reported powerful development in income across 21 circles and is the leader in 15 industries. SBICap Securities Sharma said Airtel’s AGR decline in Mumbai, Delhi and J&K may have been “caused by quarterly one-off modifications or the company’s IUC (interconnect) payment volatility.”
On the contrary, Jio’s AGR grew 4 percent sequentially to nearly Rs 9,986 crore, while Vodafone Idea mainly detained AGR’s decline by restricting its on-quarter drop to about Rs 10,149 crore at 0.3 percent. Overall telecom industry AGR (including income from the NLD) dropped to Rs 31,518.2 crores by 1 percent on-quarter.
Past and the Future:
Analysts recognized the stability in Vodafone Idea’s RMS but said the outlook remained bleak as the market leader experienced income declines in 14 industries and continued to lose AGR in management circles such as Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, UP-East, and Andhra Pradesh, in the midst of Jio’s ongoing price attack.
Over the previous two-and-a-half years, both Vodafone Idea and Airtel have consistently lost ground to Jio. In the fiscal fourth quarter, the country’s youngest telco once again outclassed its older competitors, reporting a 65 percent year-on-year jump to Rs 840 crore, backed by nearly 27 million customer additions and increasing information utilization.
By comparison, in its Indian facilities for the March quarter, Airtel published a loss of Rs 89.8 crore before interest and taxes compared to an operating profit of Rs 101 crore a year previously. Vodafone Idea also continues in the red, although its net loss in the fourth quarter of the FY19 decreased to Rs 4,878.3 crore, assisted by a tax refund and reduced expenses, as service income grew after 11-quarters decreases.
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