Covid-led stress likely to dent telcos’ Q1 revenue growth

New Delhi/Mumbai: The restrictions put in place to check the spread of coronavirus are likely to impact the June quarter revenue growth of Vodafone Idea Ltd and Bharti Airtel Ltd because of the significant reduction in their subscriber base that is a resulted of the mass migration of workers from urban to rural areas, job losses, and deactivation by those having multiple SIM cards, said analysts.

Airtel and Vodafone’s average revenue per user (Arpu) is expected to drop in April-June, because of offline recharges not being feasible, muted 4G net additions, negligible international roaming revenue, and some temporary recharge aberration, ICICI Securities said in a report.

Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd may report tepid revenue growth because of lockdown-led delayed recharges. However, the telco’s lower share of business from international roaming services, compared to peers, is going to prevent a steep Arpu fall.