New Delhi: Accentuated Internet data usage amid the novel coronavirus pandemic turned out to be a silver lining for the financially stressed telecom sector of India. Although the industry witnessed sharp erosion in its subscriber base initially during the lockdown, March-April, the work-from-home trend along with webinars and usage of video streaming platforms came as a boon for the sector.
The Director General of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), SP Kochhar said that many telecom players have benefitted from a surge in the traffic of data and voice, due to which the telecom sector is performing well compared to other infrastructure sub-sectors.
He said that in the first quarter of this fiscal, customer spending on voice and data services increased 16.6 per cent year-on-year, amounting to Rs 35,642 crore. As of October, India's wireless subscriber base stood at over 115 crore. Reliance Jio is the largest telco with a subscriber base of over 40.63 crore.
Bharti Airtel's subscriber base was nearly 30.03 crore, while Vodafone Idea has witnessed erosion in its user numbers and as of October-end it stood at over 29.28 crore. In terms of financial results, growth in data and voice usage supported the revenue growth of the companies.
Jio reported a near three-fold rise in its standalone net profit for the July-September quarter at Rs 2,844 crore. Jio's revenue from operations during the period under review rose 33 per cent to Rs 17,481 crore. Bharti Airtel narrowed its consolidated net loss for the July-September quarter to Rs 763.2 crore, from Rs 23,044.9 crore reported during the corresponding period a year ago.
The net loss of the company narrowed down significantly due to a 20.7 per cent growth in its total income at Rs 25,933.9 crore. The financial stressed Vodafone Idea also narrowed its consolidated net loss for the quarter ending September to Rs 7,218.2 crore from a consolidated net loss of Rs 50,921.9 crore during the corresponding period last fiscal.
Going into 2021, the next big thing for the telecom sector, market players say is the fifth generation (5G) connectivity, which has been delayed amid the pandemic.
Kochhar said that 5G launch is expected in the later part of 2021 and the technology is poised to open up a plethora of possibilities in terms of business models, better education, healthcare, smart cities, smart manufacturing, intelligent logistics, and overall, enhanced lifestyles for one and all.
