Airtel vs Jio vs Vodafone Idea Earnings - How top telcos performed in Jan-March 2023?
Major telecommunications companies in India have reported their results for the Jan-March quarter and while Airtel and Jio seem to cement their leadership positions, Vodafone Idea is losing subscribers and reporting wider losses.
In this blog we will dive deep into how telecom companies in India performed in the Jan-March quarter.
How have telecom firms' revenues performed?
Airtel reported the highest revenue growth in the Jan-March period. Airtel reported revenues of Rs 36,009 crores for the Jan - Mar ‘23 period. This marked a yearly growth of 14.3% from the previous year.
Most of the key segments witnessed a growth from the previous year in the Jan - Mar ‘23 period. Revenues from the Indian mobile services business increased by 11.5% from the previous year to Rs 19,549.3 crores. Moreover, despite having economic and political problems, the African mobile services business witnessed a yearly growth of 20% to Rs 11,031.5 crores.
Gross revenues for the Jan - Mar ‘23 period came in at Rs 10,531.9 crores. This marked a growth of 2.9% from the previous year. Although the subscriber base declined, a rise in Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) and increase in data usage by its customers can be attributed as factors which led to revenue growth.
Service revenues, which made up 99.8% of the total revenues of the company came in at Rs 10,506.5 crores, up 2.7% from the previous year.
Reliance Industries-backed telecom giant, Jio reported single-digit growth in the fourth quarter of FY23, when compared from the previous quarter. The company garnered a consolidated net profit of ₹4,716 crore in Q4FY23, registering 1.7% QoQ and 13.01% YoY growth.
What was the average revenue per user (ARPU) for telcos in Jan-March period?
Vodafone Idea ARPU: Vodafone Idea’s ARPU for the March quarter stood at Rs 135. This denotes a growth of 8.9% from the previous year.
A 11% yearly rise in data volume consumption among its existing subscribers base to 5,802 billion MB was the primary reason for the rise in ARPU in the March quarter.
Airtel ARPU: Airtel’s average revenue per user (ARPU) for the Indian Mobile Services business came in at Rs 193. This marks a yearly growth of 8.4%.
Meanwhile, ARPU at its other key mobile business in Africa came in at $3.1, up 6.9% from the previous year.
Jio ARPU: Jio's ARPU increased 6.7% YoY due to impact of tariff hike, better subscriber mix and data add-ons within select customer cohorts.
How many subscribers did Jio, Vodafone and Airtel add in Jan-March 2023?
Airtel customer base: Customer base of the Indian mobile services business witnessed muted growth. The same rose by a mere 2.9% to 335.4 million at the end of the March quarter.
The African mobile customer base, however, witnessed a yearly growth rate of 9% to about 140 million.
Vodafone Idea subscribers: Subscribers count at the end of the March quarter stood at 225.9 million. This denotes a decline of 7.3% from the previous year.
The trend of Vodafone Idea’s subscriber loss continued in the Jan - Mar ‘23 period. Jio and Airtel continued to nibble away at Vodafone’s subscriber base.
Jio subscribers: Subscriber base continued to see an improvement with total base rising to 43.93 crore as of March 2023, a growth of 1.5% on sequential basis.
Jio vs Airtel vs Vodafone Idea: Net profit comparison
Indian Telcos: Share price performance
| Name | 1-Year share performance |
| Reliance | -5.5% |
| Airtel | 17.50% |
| Vodafone Idea | 23.7% |
This is not investment advice. Investments in the securities market are subject to market risk, read all the related documents carefully before investing. Past performance is not indicative of future returns.