Reliance Communications loss of 900Mhz spectrum is hurting, with its revenue in Assam, Bihar, NE, Orissa and WB having halved over the last year. Tata Teleservices saw revenue decline y-y in 14 out of 19 circles of operations. Amongst companies that have been acquired, Videocon saw a 23% revenue decline y-y while MTS reported flat revenue y-y. Aircel, which is in merger talks with RCOM, reported revenue
growth of 4% compared to RCOM?s 14% revenue decline.
Market leader Bharti Airtel retained the biggest RMS (up 100bp to 31.5%), followed by Vodafone India (flat at 23.1%) and then Idea (up 110bp to 19.3%). Idea gained RMS in all circles (except Karnataka) while Airtel gained in all circles other than Punjab and Kerala. Punjab has seen a sharp change in market shares with Idea taking the lead from Airtel. Airtel?s market share was 900bps higher than Idea in 4Q15. Airtel?s refarming of 900Mhz spectrum for 3G could have had some impact. Airtel?s top RMS gains have been in circles such as Mumbai, TN and Karnataka which are high-ARPU and likely key-data-consuming markets.
