Various Middle Eastern Newspapers have reported that both QIA and ADIA are in early stage talks to buy the Indian Govt’s stake in VIL. We see this as a bearish development for the other Indian telcos, and potentially for VIL too.
Indian mobile revenue rose steadily despite slowing this quarter due to softer ARPU trend. Both Bharti and Jio continue to take share from Vodafone Idea again. Mobile EBITDA kept ahead of topline with all three seeing YoY improvements in margin. Overall, Bharti remained ahead on both metrics.
Bharti Enterprise's investment arm, Bharti Global, has sought to acquire 24.5% stake in BT from Altice UK. Although Bharti Airtel is separately owned by Bharti Enterprise (through Bharti Telecom), we share our thoughts on why we perceive this to be a likely overhang on Bharti Airtel.
Bharti has immediately followed Jio's price hike announcement, with an announcement that it is set to raise its mobile prices by between 10% and 21%. We calculate the average increase is slightly lower than Jio. The change would be effective from 3rd July too which means the full impact of the tariff hike would only be felt from Q3 FY25.
Jio leads India's first mobile hike since December 2021; we expect peers to follow. The announcement was made after the conclusion of the spectrum auction where Jio only participated modestly. This is thus structurally positive. However, that both Bharti and VIL are trading down on this news is indicative of how much good news is already priced into Indian mobile. Our thoughts below.
India's spectrum auction concluded yesterday with 141.4 MHz of airwaves being sold across the 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz and 2500 MHz band for INR 113 bn (US$ 1.36bn). Our proprietary spectrum analytics tool (SpectrumHub) suggests that prices paid were largely in line with the reserve prices, and close to our original expectations.
After further ado, India entered its 10th spectrum auction yesterday with 10,523 MHz of airwaves worth INR 963bn (US$ 11.3 bn), at reserve prices. While Jio has no renewals until 2030, both Bharti and Vodafone Idea have some of their 900 MHz and 1800 MHz band up for renewals this year, in six and two circles respectively. Preliminary analysis suggests that bidding will take on a modest tone unlike in 2022, as validated by Day 1's results, and as we expected. Our thoughts below.
India’s mobile sector quickened its topline pace to 10% YoY, led by better net additions and a sustained MSD ARPU trend. EBITDA margins continue to rise while capex is set to moderate for both Bharti and Jio. On the other hand, Vodafone has guided to spend between INR 500bn and 550bn on network expansion over the next three years after finally raising new equity.
Sometimes the markets behave in ways that appear irrational. VIL having sufficient market cap to launch an INR 200bn ($2.4bn) capital increase despite (in our view) being a failing business is one example. But what does it mean for Bharti, Jio and Indus?
India’s telecom industry continue to grow in the HSD, with Bharti and Jio improving at the expense of VIL. Industry ARPU tracked MSD again even without any meaningful tariff hikes; we expect increases to be put through in 2H CY24 though that has largely been priced in. EBITDA continue to trend ahead of topline, with YoY margins improvement across the board. Earlier last month, the government also approved the auction for 10,523 MHz of spectrum which starts from INR 963bn (USD 11.6bn). However, w...
Yesterday, Vodafone Idea's board approved INR 200bn (USD 2.4bn) in equity raise to fund its 4G expansion and 5G rollout. After the equity raise, the company then wants to attempt to raise a further c. INR 250bn in debt. In aggregate, therefore the company is hoping to raise INR 450bn (USD 5.4bn). Even if successful (we are sceptical), we do not think this is enough. Shares were down sharply by 14% today. Our thoughts below.
Following a very strong H2 2023, Bharti has retraced nearly INR 100/share. We remain bullish and would see the sell-down as a buying opportunity. Consensus forecasts continue to look too low to us; in this note we focus on the consumer margin, which we think is likely to surprise to the upside.
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