Bharti Airtel is today going to release the financial performance report of the September quarter and the first half of FY22. YES Securities believes that Bharti Airtel’s average revenue per user (ARPU) figure will reach Rs 153. This is because of the indirect tariff hikes from the telco as it removed the base Rs 49 plan for the users. At the same time, the analysts believe that the telco’s subscriber addition rate will be slowed for the quarter. According to Jefferies, Airtel’s revenue growth for the September quarter should be strong. The telco’s revenues may rise 7% QoQ with a steady margin. Jefferies believes that Airtel’s ARPU will increase to Rs 157. Even Jefferies said that telco’s subscriber addition rate might have slowed down during the quarter.
Focus Areas Will be ARPU
It is fine if Bharti Airtel’s subscribers reduce or the subscriber addition rate is slowed down as long as the telco’s ARPU is increasing. Further, there’s another round of serious tariff hikes luring in the corner which will also help the telco in improving its ARPU significantly. Bharti Airtel’s cash flow should be in the green. The telco had recently announced its decision of accepting the moratorium benefits laid out by the government. Airtel has accepted a moratorium on both spectrum and adjusted gross revenue dues payments. Analysts believe that Bharti Airtel’s enterprise revenue won’t see any major jump. According to the Emkay Global Financial Services report, Bharti’s growth in the enterprise segment will be in the low-single-digit zone on a sequential basis. It is only a wait of few months before Airtel can come out with 5G services for enterprises. 5G will play a big role in boosting the enterprise revenues of the telco in FY23. The tariff hikes could come around the last quarter of FY22 or the first quarter of FY23 right before 5G is introduced in India.
