Not long ago, private telecom operators introduced prepaid electricity tariff hikes for customers across the country. Vodafone Idea (Vi) plans another round of tariff hikes on prepaid fees in 2022 or 2023, Vodafone Idea CEO Ravinder Takkar said on an earnings call. The company’s Rs 99 prepaid plan is not an expensive option for 4G users. Depending on the market reaction and how the current new prices are embedded, the telcos will decide whether to increase the prepaid tariffs for 4G plans again in 2022 or 2023.
Vodafone Idea currently has a very high subscriber churn rate. According to the telco’s third-quarter fiscal 2022 performance report, the subscriber churn rate was 3.4%, compared to 2.9% in the second quarter of fiscal 2022. The figures for the fourth quarter of FY22 should be similar as Vodafone Idea does not have the necessary means to match the capex levels of Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel’s 4G networks and services.
The tariff hike has helped the company boost average revenue per user (ARPU) from Rs 109 in Q2FY22 to Rs 115 in Q3FY22, but subscribers are exiting telecom networks very quickly.
Vodafone Idea (Vi) needs funds to invest in its network. To that end, the telco has already held talks with potential investors, and the promoters are also expected to put some money in for the foreseeable future.
According to a PTI report, Takkar said there was a considerable two-year lag between prepaid tariff hikes. But this time around, the company has seen the perfect time to continue raising upfront fees in 2022 or 2023, whichever looks perfect.
Motilal Oswal has said Vodafone Idea needs another round of tariff hikes to boost ARPU by 1.9 times so the company can become self-sustainable.
Complete Newws Source : Telecomtalk
