India's Largest Wireless Carrier, Bharti Airtel emphasized that flattening data subs penetration was a concern. Only about 23% of their subs use data with the definition of data subs being a low benchmark of greater than 1 MB per month. The real challenge is getting people to use the internet, which will involve educating the masses. We note that we have been saying this for years; in our RADAR (reach, applications/content, devices, affordability and reason) framework on data growth potential assessment, we had highlighted the 2nd ?R? i.e. ?reason to use data or internet? as the biggest challenge.
The decrease in data ARPU witnessed this quarter was primarily driven by a decline in wholesale revenues from 3G ICR arrangements.
Figures Recorded at End of March-31-2016.
