Indian Operators Report Declining ARPUs

India's total subscriber base of wireline and wireless services reaches 429.72 million for quarter ending March 2009 as against 384.79 million for quarter ending December 2008, thus registering an increase of 11.68% during the quarter, reports the telecoms regulator, TRAI.

The subscriber base for wireless services has increased from 346.89 million for quarter ending December 2008 to 391.76 million for quarter ending March 2009. The rural wireless subscriber base has increased from 93.15 million for quarter ending December 2008 to 109.71 million for quarter ending March 2009, registering a growth of 17.77%.

For GSM segment, all India blended ARPU per month has decreased by 6.82% from Rs. 220 in December 2008 to Rs. 205 in March 2009, while CDMA operators saw ARPU of Rs. 99 as compared to Rs. 111 for the quarter ending December 2008.

For CDMA segment, the huge difference between postpaid and prepaid ARPU noticed in the last quarter continued to remain valid for the current quarter as well. Postpaid ARPU has been 5 times that of prepaid ARPU, which perhaps, could be attributed to declining importance of processing fee on recharge coupon/ voucher purchased by prepaid subscribers. The gap is lowest in Circle C (3.68 times) and highest in Circle A (5.59 times).

Posted to the site on 13th July 2009