Telecom Revenue Set to Surge in Q4 – What It Means for Jio, Airtel, and Vi?

The revenue of the telecom sector is expected to increase 16-17% year-on-year in the quarter ending March of FY25. It's a change which could boost the performance of top private operators Reliance Jio, and Bharti Airtel, while Vodafone Idea (Vi) is predicted to have lower losses to customers during Q4FY25.

"After the headline price hikes in July, the telecom sector's revenue growth surged to 14% year-on-year in Q2FY25 and then to 16% in Q3FY25, up from the low 8-9% pre-tariff hike. The sector should be able to maintain the 16-17% year-over-year growth in revenue during Q4FY25. This is assisted by the residual flow-through from the most recent rate hike with a significant increase in user numbers overall due to the SIM consolidation effects has been largely absorbed and also aided by a greater number of prepaid users who had switched to BSNL before returning on the 3 private providers." Mayuresh Joshi, director (equity research) at the Indian division of the US-based William O' Neil & Co said to ET earlier.

According to a study by ET Bureau, in Q4FY25 the industry is predicted to experience a significant increase in revenue above the pre-tariff hike levels of 8-9 percent in a year-on-year comparison.

In the case of Reliance Jio, the tail-end effects of July's rate hikes, particularly for customers who have longer-duration plans is expected to result in more revenue growth. Similar to that, Bharti Airtel is poised to reap the benefits of a robust customer acquisition as well as an increase in the number of mobile data bundled plans, which have been proven to increase the ARPU. (ARPU).

Reliance Jio began its broadband mobile services. This increase is a result of the transformational impact of price competition and the subsequent consolidation of the industry.