FREE

MOSL: TELECOM-Bharti tops active subscriber addition list for the third time-Jio Phone impact not fully captured in Jan-18

Telecom: Bharti tops active subscriber addition list for the third time; Jio Phone impact not fully captured in Jan-18

 

Active subscribers decline by 2.8m

Active subscriber base for the industry declined by 2.8m to 1,012.6m in January 2018, bucking the previous month’s trend (+8.9m). Business closure/downsizing by smaller players – RCOM, TTSL, Aircel and Telenor (cumulatively lost 200bp market share) – proved beneficial for Bharti and Vodafone-Idea, which cumulatively expanded market share by 140bp. RJio, too, gained market share by 55bp.

 Bharti top gainer in terms of active subs adds for third straight month

Bharti has taken the top spot in terms of active subscriber addition. It added 10.3m subscribers in January (lower than +15.1m in December 2017), and expanded its market share by 110bp to 30.9% by continuing to eat into the market shares of smaller operators, which are either closing down or downsizing their operations.

 RJio adds only 5.2m subscribers, with 55bp market share expansion

RJio added 5.2m active subscribers (v/s 9.2m in Dec-17) and grew its market share by 55bp to 13.7%. This is almost half of Bharti’s subscriber net addition during the month. However, we note that Jio Phone offer re-launch (announced on 26th January 2018) may not be fully captured in Jan’18 subscriber numbers, and thus, the data remains understated to that extent.

 Vodafone-Idea adds 2.2m subs; market share up 30bp

Vodafone-Idea added 2.2m subscribers in January (v/s +6.0m in Dec-17). Market share expanded marginally by 30bp to 40.2%. After recovering strongly by 140bp in November 2017, the combined Idea-Vodafone active subscriber market share has continued to grow, albeit at a much slower pace (+25bp/30bp in Dec-17/Jan-18).