Vodafone Idea’s Q2 results show it has fallen far behind Airtel post tariff hike

MUMBAI: A cursory glance at Vodafone Idea Ltd’s September quarter results suggests it accrued no gains from the massive industry-wide tariff hikes undertaken in December 2019. Q2 revenues stood at ₹10,791 crore, marginally lower than the ₹10,844 crore reported in the year-ago period. In contrast, Bharti Airtel Ltd’s India wireless revenues rose as much as 26% year-on-year to ₹13,832 crore in Q2. Before the tariff hikes, the two firms were neck and neck in terms of India wireless revenues.

Vodafone Idea’s troubles are multifold. To start with, its poor liquidity position has resulted in an increasing gap in network quality vis-à-vis its peers, which in turn is leading to a massive erosion in its subscriber base. What’s more, as its Arpu (average revenue per user) metrics suggest, it seems to be losing some of its higher-value subscribers.

A year ago, Vodafone Idea’s subscriber base was 11.5% higher than that of Airtel. Things have now reversed and its subscriber base is now 7.5% lower compared to Airtel.