Bharti Airtel has disclosed that it received a notice from the telecom department, accusing the company of breaching subscriber verification rules in Bihar. The penalty is Rs 3.57 lakh, as stated in a BSE filing by the telecom operator. The notice was received on January 8, 2024, and Airtel provided details about it, acknowledging the alleged violation of subscriber verification norms.
The company clarified that the notice was based on an alleged breach of terms and conditions related to subscriber verification norms outlined in the License Agreement. This information was derived from a sample Customer Application Form (CAF) audit conducted by the Department of Telecom for September 2023.
On the other hand, analysts anticipate that Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel will reveal an increase in mobile business revenue for the fiscal third quarter, attributed to robust broadband user expansion and heightened data consumption spurred by the Cricket World Cup. In contrast, Vodafone Idea’s mobile revenue is expected to remain flat sequentially for the December quarter, impacted by substantial customer attrition.
In the concluded three months ending December 31, analysts predict that Airtel is poised to deliver a more robust Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) compared to Jio. Jio’s ARPU growth is anticipated to be constrained by the widespread use of unlimited data packs among 5G users. Despite this, Jio is expected to outpace Airtel in customer additions, driven by the high demand for its economical internet-enabled feature phone, Jio Bharat.
Jio and Airtel hold an early advantage in the 5G landscape, with imminent nationwide launches of next-generation mobile broadband services. Meanwhile, Vi, grappling with losses, has yet to disclose its 5G rollout plans, hindered by pending fundraising efforts.
According to BoFA Securities, their internal assessments indicate that Jio Bharat phone capacity has reached 10 million in trade channels since its launch in July, with 50-60% of these phones already activated. The brokerage projects Jio and Airtel to gain 9.2 million and 3.5 million mobile users, respectively, in Q3FY24. This growth is expected to come largely at the expense of financially strained Vi, which may lose another 4.5 million customers due to its ongoing challenges in competing with its larger rivals.
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