The telecom industry is not doing as good as it is anticipated to.
True, the Covid-19 pandemic has tapped great losses in revenues for so many sectors, the telecom sector being a major one.
The industry (telecom) has lost 82 lakh subscribers in April 2020 and it is speculated that this number will keep on increasing due to the pandemic, creating an even more pressure on the industry.
Biggest Losers and Leader
The decline in customer base in the telecom industry was 28 lakh in March 2020 and this number surged to 82 lakh subscribers in April, according to India Ratings and Research.
Presumably, Reliance Jio stood headstrong as the leader in the telecom industry, witnessing a growth in its base, while Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea were recorded as the biggest losers in the sector.
The industry-wide subscriber base declined month-on-month by 2.8 million and 8.2 million in March and April 2020, respectively.
This decline was due to a fall in the subscriber base of Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel, which shadowed the fall in customer base reflected in Reliance Jio.
The note published by India Ratings and Research mentioned,
“The impact is due to the lockdown imposed after the outbreak of COVID-19 towards end-March 2020 and continued for the full month of April 2020.
The addition in the subscriber base would remain under pressure in the coming months due to COVID-19.”
Additional Information
The report also mentioned that the broadband subscriber base recorded a decline of 11.1 million subscribers in April, which was recorded as the first month of decline in the past 2 years.
In terms of revenue, the agency said tariff carried out in December 2019 resulted in an 11% growth in the industry-wide revenue, to Rs 402 billion in the March quarter as compared to the period of preceding three months.