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Airtel CEO Shashwat Sharma expects ARPU to cross ₹300 from ₹264 as postpaid share builds toward 20%
Our read
Airtel's ARPU is more likely than not to cross ₹300 within the next few quarters, driven by customers upgrading to postpaid, though the 20% postpaid goal will take years.
For operators
If you sell or service Airtel connections, expect the push to move customers up to postpaid (about 8% of the base today, 20% as the long-term goal) to favour upgrade conversations, so train staff to pitch postpaid plans and bundles over plain prepaid recharges.
Watch
Airtel's next quarterly ARPU print against the ₹264 base and the ₹300 target
The report,
Bharti Airtel CEO Shashwat Sharma expects ARPU to cross ₹300 from the current ₹264, driven by raising the postpaid share of customers to 20% over the long term from about 8%. Airtel added nearly 1.05 million postpaid users in the June quarter.
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Reported figures
From the report. Source details below
| Postpaid subscribers as of June 30: | 30 million |
|---|---|
| Postpaid tariff hike: | ₹50 |
| Sustainable annual industry ARPU growth: | 5-7% |
What to watch next
- Postpaid net additions versus the roughly 1.05 million added in the latest quarter
- Any tariff revision or new postpaid pricing by Jio or Vodafone Idea
- Postpaid share of Airtel's base moving up from about 8%
- Churn or downgrade commentary from Airtel and its rivals after any price move
Likely next moves
Our read of what comes next — analysis, not reported by the source.
- Airtel is likely to keep steering prepaid customers into higher-value plans and family or bundled postpaid offers, since it has framed postpaid share rising from about 8% toward 20% as its main lever.
- Expect Airtel management to repeat the ₹300 ARPU and 5-7% sustainable-growth message on upcoming earnings calls and investor events, which anchors market expectations for the industry.
- Reliance Jio may respond to Airtel's postpaid push with its own postpaid migration offers or bundles, and could hold back from leading any price increase to protect subscriber share.
- Airtel is likely to lean on its 30 million postpaid base and its 1.05 million quarterly additions to show that its upgrade strategy is working rather than relying on across-the-board tariff increases.
- Price-sensitive prepaid customers may resist upgrades and trade down to cheaper packs or secondary SIMs, which would cap how fast Airtel's mix improves.
The source
Published
First seen