Data from the last 17 Quarters suggest that revenue share trends at circle level show that "mobile data" is now a key growth driver. Smaller telcos, which don?t have data spectrum or ability to invest, are steadily getting marginalized. Even among the top three, Bharti is widening the gap with Vodafone / Idea helped by execution and a wider data spectrum footprint.
Wireless Data consumption is currently skewed towards higher per-capita income circles. This is reflected in five of the top seven circles (contributing 50% of the industry revenue) growing slightly faster than the overall industry, despite their larger scale and higher penetration. The top three have gained c800bps since 4QFY12, including 230bps in the last four Qs. This has been due to larger telcos continuing to invest in networks as well as crowding out the smaller telcos in data spectrum. Smaller telcos are unable to match larger telcos either on network or spectrum portfolio due to Balance Sheet constraints.
