@ksh@T 20 Report post Posted September 15, 2006 Mobile revenue falling, 6 circles buck the trend Sanjay Anand | TNN New Delhi: It’s cell users in the richest and the poorest telecom circles who rang in some good news for mobile operators. With falling tariffs, the average revenue per user (Arpu) showed some rise in Mumbai, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, along with UP (East) and Bihar. Add Himachal Pradesh to the list, which registered the steppest 15% rise in Apru. But in the rest of the country, Arpus dipped. Delhi and Mumbai continued to register highest Arpus. Delhi had highest Arpu of Rs 465.51, followed by Mumbai at Rs 430.97 during April-June 2006-07. While Delhi’s Arpu fell about 5%, Mumbai’s grew by as much, according to data compiled COAI. Industry revenue of the seven private GSM operators for Q1 have grown however by about 14% to Rs 5,620.59 crore. Revenues of individual companies were: Airtel (Rs 2,310.59 crore), Hutch (Rs 1,841.77 crore), Idea (Rs 750.53 crore), Aircel (Rs 252.35 crore), Reliance GSM (Rs 206.03 crore), Spice (Rs 145.29 crore) and BPL Mobile (Rs 114.03 crore). In India, Arpus of cellular companies have shown steady declines, with a few exceptions here and there, largely on account of steep declines in tariffs because of intense competition. In fact, all India Arpu in Q1 has dipped further by about 3% to Rs 346.59. Industry officials maintain that the trend will continue for some more time before Arpus stabilise and begin an upturn. ‘‘I believe that industry Arpu could go down to Rs 300-320,’’ said COAI DG TV Ramachandran. He said the upturn would come on account of increase in value-added services (VAS) like SMS and download of ringtones, music and wallpapers. ‘‘VAS revenues are growing at 30-40%, although they account for an average of about 15-17%,’’ said Ramachandran. He cited the example of the Philippines, saying that cellular Arpus fell there but with a sharp rise in SMS and other services, it began an upward trend. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
