Vodafone Idea runs risk of losing high quality users in absence of 5G

Vodafone Idea, which has been losing subscribers continuously for 19 months now, runs the risk of losing high quality consumers in the next 6-7 months in the absence of 5G launch, several analysts FE spoke to, said. Analysts said that the company might soon see a churn in its 4G subscribers on a net-to-net basis as well, once rivals Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio completely extend 5G to metros and other top circles.

In the 19 months till October, the telecom operator has lost about 38.1 million mobile subscribers, which is significantly higher compared to Reliance Jio which lost 1.5 million users owing to cleaning of inactive subscriber base, and Bharti Airtel which added 12.6 million users.

According to industry experts, the upcoming cycles of subscriber churn for Vodafone Idea might even lead to a fall in its Arpu (average revenue per user) despite tariff hikes.