The Hindu Business Line : Cell cos’ revenue per user stabilising

New Delhi, Oct 5 Mobile operators can take a breather with the average revenue per user stabilising at around Rs 300 per month mark. As per numbers released by the telecom regulator the all-India blended ARPU per month of Rs 297 for GSM has remained almost at the same level during the April-June quarter as compared with the figure of Rs 298 per month for the previous quarter.

ARPU is measure of financial viability for mobile operators. As per industry norms, ARPU below $5 is considered to be unviable. With tariffs continuously decreasing, ARPU levels for mobile operators have been falling over the past few years.

However, during the April-June quarter, ARPU for post-paid GSM service has shown an increase of 7 per cent from Rs 613 in March to Rs 655 in June. The recent increase in tariffs could be one of the reasons for higher average revenues.

ARPU for prepaid GSM has, however, shown a slight decline of 0.8 per cent from Rs 250 in March to Rs 248 in June.

For the CDMA segment also the ARPU per month has gone up to Rs 206 in June as against Rs 202 for the quarter ended March, an increase of 2 per cent.

User base

Wireless market grew at 12 per cent during the quarter by adding 19.81 million subscribers. Internet subscriber base marginally reduced to 9.22 million compared to 9.27 million during the preceding quarter. Broadband subscriber base reached 2.42 million registering a growth of 3.55 per cent, which is slower than the 13 per cent growth rate achieved during the previous quarter.