Covid-19 effect: 35% slump in mobile recharge volumes
By MYBRANDBOOK
Due to the 11 days nationwide lockdown to curb Covid-19, the overall mobile recharge volumes has seen a 35% slump as millions of migrant workers among the worst affected forming the bulk, as per industry experts and analysts.
The lockdown has affected half of India’s over 370 million feature phone user base which majorly comprised of migrant workers who have not been able to recharge their phones. The basic phone user base also includes some 85-90 million Reliance Jio 4G VoLTE phone users, according to market trackers.
More than 90% of the 1.15 billion mobile phone subscribers in India are pre-paid subscribers. Aimed at helping those migrant workers who have not or won’t be able to recharge during the 21-day lockdown to April 14, telcos such as Airtel and Vodafone Idea have extended the validity of plans to April 17.
As per industry executives and experts, the physical recharges have droped to nil as people are not being able to visit mobile stores or their nearest kiranas to recharge phones, a development which sharply lowered monthly new user additions of telcos. And pure digital recharges, reckoned to make up a shade over a third of overall mobile recharges, are also down.
A senior industry executive estimates that the inability of about 50% of India’s feature phone users to recharge could lead to “around Rs 15 crore revenue loss for the Big three telcos during the current lockdown period as these migrant workers recharge small amounts”.
Analysts, though, don’t expect the sharp fall in mobile recharges to sting Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea’s revenues in the fiscal fourth quarter of FY20 as the lockdown started in the fourth week of March. They also expect the combination of higher data usage and the December 2019 tariff hikes to offset any revenue dip in the March quarter. But that, they said, would change if the lockdown is extended.
“If the lockdown continues beyond April 14, it will hit revenues of Airtel, VIL and Jio (sequentially) in the June quarter, though we don’t have estimates immediately,” said Rajiv Sharma, Research Head at SBICap Securities.
Sharma said Jio’s potential revenue hit in the June quarter may be comparatively less as its around 90 million feature phone users have 4G, and majority would be able to switch to online digital recharges faster than Airtel/VIL’s 2G users if the lockdown is extended.
BREAKING NEWS
TECHNO TRENDS
Nazara and ONDC set to transform in-game monetization with ‘
Nazara Technologies has teamed up with the Open Network for Digital Comme...
Jio Platforms and NICSI to offer cloud services to government
In a collaborative initiative, the National Informatics Centre Services In...
BSNL awards ₹5,000 Cr Project to RVNL-Led Consortium
A syndicate led by Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (abbreviated as RVNL), along wi...
Pinterest tracks users without consent, alleges complaint
A recent complaint alleges that Pinterest, the popular image-sharing platf...
E-Magazine
TECHNOTAINMENT
Netflix adds 'Moments' feature for saving, sharing scenes from
Netflix has introduced a new “Moments” feature on its mobile app, whic
Jacqueline Fernandez come together with YouTuber Mr. Beast for
Jacqueline Fernandez has partnered with American YouTuber Mr. Beast to b
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Visa elevates Rishi Chhabra as new Country Manager for India
Rishi holds a Master’s in Industrial Engineering from The Ohio State Univ
Genesys welcomes Albert Nel as Senior VP and Regional Sales Le
Genesys continues to deepen its investment in the APAC region. Earlier this
OPEN YOUR EYES
INTERVIEWS
AMD Pensando driving innovation in the DPU architecture space
AMD Pensando stands out in the DPU (Data Processing Unit) market with its u
Delivering Critical Business Communication Solutions to Enterp
Arya Omnitalk and Syntel’s comprehensive suite of solutions and more than
HOT PICK
SonicWall Launches TZ80: A Powerful Solution for Remote Office
SonicWall announced today the launch of the TZ80, a groundbreaking securit
Gigabyte X3D Turbo: A Gaming Revolution
GIGABYTE X3D Turbo Mode is a cutting-edge feature that unifies cores distr
MAKE IN INDIA BRANDS
GLOBUS INFOCOM LTD.
TEJAS NETWORKS INDIA PVT. LTD.
VVDN TECHNOLOGIES
EXATRON SERVERS MANUFACTURING PVT. LTD.
EMINENT CIO'S OF INDIA
ICONS OF INDIA
Icons Of India : B.V.R. Subrahmanyam
A 1987 batch (Chhattisgarh cadre) Indian Administrative Service Office...
ICONS OF INDIA : SANTHOSH VISWANATHAN
Santhosh Viswanathan is the the Vice President and Managing Director f...
ICONS OF INDIA : RISHAD PREMJI
Rishad Premji is Executive Chairman of Wipro Limited, a $11.3 billion ...
PARTNER SPEAKERS
PSU
NSE - National Stock Exchange
NSE is the leading stock exchange in India....
UIDAI - Unique Identification Authority of India
UIDAI and the Aadhaar system represent a significant milestone in Indi...
ITI - ITI Limited
ITI Limited is a leading provider of telecommunications equipment, sol...
VIDEOS
Top 25 Brands
Global Indian industry
Indian Tech Talent Excelling The Tech World - JAYASHREE ULLAL, President and CEO - Arista Network
Jayshree V. Ullal is a British-American billionaire businesswoman, ser...
Indian Tech Talent Excelling The Tech World - REVATHI ADVAITHI, CEO- Flex
Revathi Advaithi, the CEO of Flex, is a dynamic leader driving growth ...
Indian Tech Talent Excelling The Tech World - Thomas Kurian, CEO- Google Cloud
Thomas Kurian, the CEO of Google Cloud, has been instrumental in expan...
STARNITE AWARDS 2024
ITFORUM 2024
CMO of the Year
WOMEN LEADERSHIP
IMAGE GALLERY
TRENDS IN TECHNOLOGY
MORE VIDEOS
ADVERTISEMENTS
TECHNOLOGY DISRUPTION
UNICORNS REVOLUTIONISING
