The Hindu Business Line : Mobile additions continue to be prime-mover

The enterprises service segments as well as the broadband and wireline division have reported a flat quarter. The decline in minutes of usage and a decrease in incremental market share are worrisome indicators for the quarter for Bharti.

Mobile revenues expand

Propelled by rapid subscriber additions, the mobile revenues of the company grew by 9 per cent over the second quarter to Rs 7,939.2 crore. But an expanding base means that the revenue per subscriber continues to decline and stands at Rs 324 currently. But decline in minutes of usage, despite the quarter being a festival-filled one, may be a matter of concern for the company. What may be more worrisome is the fact that Bharti’s market share in new subscriber additions has fallen sequentially from 28.5 per cent to 25.9 per cent. This indicates that new entrants in some circles may be making significant inroads in garnering market share.

But with Bharti’s recent introduction of schemes such as lifetime recharge for Rs 99, it remains to be seen if it will be able play the tariff game that Reliance Communications has done for new GSM connections. SMS continues to be the chief non-voice revenue contributor. The company has concurrently launched 2G and 3G services in Sri Lanka. But any increase in realisations from this venture may come in only in the coming quarters.

Other divisions flat

The company’s Enterprise Carriers division, comprising domestic and international long distance operations, has had a reasonable quarter. But the Enterprise Corporates division has fallen 16 per cent in revenue terms this quarter, indicating that the economic slowdown may have taken its toll on clients’ telecom connectivity spends. Bharti’s tower business has had a mixed quarter with the tenancy improving marginally to 1.34 per cent while rentals have come down by two per cent .