The Hindu Business Line : ARPU of cellular firms stabilising

For the first time in four years, cellular operators said that the average monthly revenue per user (ARPU) has remained at Rs 402 during the last six months. While operators had reported a 6.8 per cent fall in ARPU during the previous quarter, the revenue analysis for the quarter July-September 2004 has shown that the revenue per user has been arrested at the levels of the previous quarter.

Adding to the cheer is the fact that the total revenues of the operators have increased to Rs 2,930 crore during July-September, 12 per cent higher than in the previous quarter, said a statement from the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI). During the financial year 2003-04, there was an average fall of as much as 4 per cent every quarter in the ARPU.

Mr T.V. Ramachandran, Director General, COAI, said, "The decline has been probably because many subscribers have paid the bills on time. This is a very encouraging trend. The ARPUs are further expected to go up in the long run as data services pick up in volumes as it has happened in other countries."

But not all the operators managed to arrest the decline in average revenues. Aircel in Chennai, for instance, saw an 8.7 per cent decline in its ARPU as compared with the previous quarter. Reliance Telecom, which offers services in the North East and C Circle states such as Bihar and Orissa, saw massive decline in its ARPU. Bharti Cellular in Himachal Pradesh also recorded a 9.21 per cent decline in average revenue.

The biggest gainers during the quarter include Bharti Cellular in Kerala and Hutchison in Haryana with a 14 per cent increase in ARPU.

Overall, Bharti has the highest total revenue across the country at Rs 1,064 crore during the July-September quarter, 17 per cent higher than in the previous quarter. Hutchison is at the second spot with Rs 868 crore, 10.5 per cent higher than its revenues in the previous quarter.