According to a CLSA report, Bharti Airtel’s data user base and market share have increased significantly. It has added 24.5 million 4G/5G subscribers in the last 12 months. CLSA further expects Airtel to attain 20 million annual upgrades and 293 million data subscribers by FY26CL, resulting in a considerable increase in average revenue per user (ARPU) from Rs 200 to Rs 257 by FY26CL.
Currently, Airtel is seeing an increase in post-paid customer additions, with 0.83 million added in 1QFY24 alone, representing year-on-year (YoY) increase by 3.4 times. Moreover, when internet of things (IoT)/machine to machine (M2M) subscriptions are included, this growth rises to 4.8 million, owing to the rising post-paid subscribers.
Further, Airtel has increased its revenue market share by 60 basis points to 36.7 per cent in 1QFY24, and by 5 percentage points over the last three years.
According to the research, Airtel’s optimistic trajectory includes rising ARPU, increased data user penetration, and greater market share increases. As per projections, India’s mobile revenue/earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) compound annual growth rate (CAGR) will be 13/17 per cent by FY26CL.
