For Idea Cellular, 3G / 4G Data fared much worse than voice with data revenue declining 15% Q/Q and 22% Y/Y) and voice declining to a lesser extent (3.2% decline Q/Q, 10.2% Y/Y). Surprisingly, data ARPU did not decline Q/Q despite such a sharp data revenue decline (possibly, because Idea suffered a significant decline in its data sub base)
Consumption-related metrics jumped sequentially for both voice and data, especially for data (with data volumes up 16.7% and per user data usage jumping 36.7% Q/Q). But given the sharp data pricing fall (27.7% Q/Q) and halving Y/Y, it did not help revenue performance. This is the main point we?ve been highlighting for some time ? pointing to significant volume (consumption) jumps as proof of positive elasticity does not make sense when this is accompanied by sharp pricing cuts.
Ultimately, we focus on data ARPU, data revenues, data revenue added and data revenue growth. It is very much possible to show volume expansion and robust data sub-adds in data taking steep price cuts.
