Content cost of Airtel, Vodafone Idea jumps 12.24 per cent to ₹1,513 crore

The cumulative content costs of leading telecom operators Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea increased 12.24% on-year to ₹1,513 crore in FY23, as they ramped up on content libraries to raise data consumption through video content in a bid to reduce churn and boost average revenue per user (ARPU).

For the fiscal year under review, Bharti Airtel’s consolidated content cost jumped 18% to ₹856 crore. The company owns and operates Airtel Xstream, a video streaming app that aggregates content from 19 over-the-top (OTT) players like SonyLIV, Lionsgate Play, Hoichoi, and Hungama, among others. The company also owns the music streaming app Wynk Music, which offers 24 million songs for free.