Telcos add 59 mn users in Jan-Mar; revenue per user dips

Telecom operators added over 59 million new subscribers in the January-March quarter this year, but witnessed an over 8 per cent decline in average revenue per user.
The total number of mobile subscribers in the country stood at 621.28 million at the end of March, 2010.
As per the quarterly performance report by telecom regulator TRAI, the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) from GSM mobile services declined by 8.6 per cent from Rs 144 in the quarter ended December, 2009, to Rs 131 in the quarter ended March, 2010.
On a yearly basis, the decline in ARPU was even sharper, at 36.1 per cent.
In the CDMA segment, the ARPU declined by 3.7 per cent from Rs 82 in the quarter ended December, 2009, to Rs 76 in the quarter ended March, 2010. In this segment, the yearly decline was 22.9 per cent.
ARPU is an indication of how much money a company makes from the average user. ARPU provides a breakdown of what is driving revenue growth and also gives some indications of what is driving margins.
The number of telephone subscribers in India increased from 562.16 million at the end of December, 2009, to 621.28 million at the end of March, 2010, registering a sequential growth of 10.52 per cent over the previous quarter.
This reflects year-on-year growth of 44.58 per cent over the same quarter of last year.
The overall national teledensity stood at 52.74 per cent in the reporting period.
Urban teledensity was 119.73 in the January-March quarter of 2010, compared to 110.96 in the December quarter of the previous year. Rural teledensity was 24.29 in January-March, 2010, against 21.16 in the previous quarter.
In the wireline segment, the subscriber base shrunk from 37.06 million to 36.96 million.
The number of Broadband subscribers increased from 7.82 million at the end of December, 2009, to 8.71 million at the end of March, 2010, translating into a quarterly growth of 12.15 per cent.
GSM subscriber usage stood at 411 minutes during the reporting period, the same as in the December quarter of 2009.
In the case of CDMA, average subscriber usage declined by 3.7 per cent to 307 minutes in January-March, 2010, from 318 minutes in October-December, 2009.