All 5G enable smartphones, except Apple’s iPhones, will start supporting Airtel 5G services by the middle of this month, a senior Bharti Airtel official said. During the Airtel’s earnings call, Bharti Airtel Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Gopal Vittal said Apple will release the software update in the first week of November and all of its devices should support the company’s 5G services by mid-December.
Airtel is providing 5G services at 4G rates but it is likely to take call on the pricing of the next generation services in the next 6-9 months, he added.
Gopal Vittal Said :
“Samsung… I think there are 27 models of 5G. 16 models are already ready and enabled. Rest will happen by November 10-12. OnePlus all 17 models will work on our network. Vivo all 34 models, Realme all 34 models will work on our network. Xiaomi’s all 33 models and Oppo all 14 models will work. Apple has 13 models. They will have (software update) release around the first week of November and by mid-December they should be all ready,”.
According to market research firm IDC, 5.1 crore 5G smartphones were ship from 2020 to first half of 2022 and they are expect to cross 50% market share by 2023.
Many 5G smartphones have unable to access 5G services due to lack of compatibility between the network and the mobile phone.
Gopal Vittal said the company expects to cover all towns in urban India as also key rural areas by March 2024.
Also Gopal Vittal said the company is in the 5G network construction phase and “then we take decision as to what we do, may be, in next 6-9 months.”
Gopal Vittal Said :
“As the network starts getting built out we will see a significant part of our existing data traffic on 4G move to Airtel 5G plus. This is important since it will allow us to gradually move more and more spectrum to 5G at the flick of a button. We have also started testing the SA (standalone) mode on 5G. This mode may be relevant for some enterprise use cases,”.
Bharti Airtel may advance earmark network investment of Rs 23,000-24,000 crore per annum to expedite rollout of 5G services and gain market share.
Gopal Vittal Said :
“Given the financially pressed situation that one of the players in the Industry is going through, we feel that the moment is ripe for Airtel pulling ahead and being the decisively most aspirational brand in India. With this we hope to take a further lead particularly in the postpaid segment.”
Bharti Airtel has post an 89% year-on-year rise in consolidate net profit for the September quarter at Rs 2,145 crore, as higher revenue per user, more data consumption, and expand 4G base boost realisations.
Airtel’s total revenue rose nearly 22% year-on-year to Rs 34,527 crore during the just-end quarter.
The company attribute this to “strong and consistent performance delivery across the portfolio and crossing 500 million customers globally”.
The Q2 net profit trail street expectations, though the revenue numbers came in higher than market estimates.
The Average Revenue Per User or ARPU (a key metrics for telcos) stood at Rs 190 for the just-end quarter as compare to Rs 153 in Q2 FY22, help by focus on quality customers, feature phone to smartphone upgradation and data monetisation, as per Airtel.
Gopal Vittal said that the company has only 8.5% return on investments which is very low and can be achieve by investing in financial instruments.
Gopal Vittal Said :
“This return on capital needs to go up. We are not talking about massive corrections. We are already at Rs 190 ARPU. We need to see one round of correction. When this will happen I am not at liberty to say. We are watching this space and see when the time is ripe,”.
