9 Comments

1. 

   Divakar Goswami

   October 27, 2006, 8:46 pm

   Although no mentioned in the article, Bharti’s current(Sept 2006) ARPUS are USD 9.5. They don’t break it down by prepaod and post paid so I assume it is averaged.

2. 

   samarajiva

   October 28, 2006, 10:01 am

   Generally, ARPUs decrease, not increase. So it would not be out of place to mention that according early 2006 numbers, Dialog’s prepaid ARPUs were below 5 USD, and postpaid ARPUs at around USD 15. Even though Dialog has close to 500,000 postpaid customers, the blended ARPU would be closer to USD 6-7 because it has over 2 million prepaids. So it seems that Dialog is making excellent profits on ARPUs that are much lower than those of Bharti.

   Of course, one must note that ARPUs are not the best indicator of a company’s performance.

3. 

   Abu Saeed Khan

   October 30, 2006, 6:14 pm

   GrameenPhone has firmed up its position in the cell phone service market, registering an impressive 11 percent growth, which has injected 14 percent increased revenue sequentially in the third quarter during July to September 2006.

   The country’s biggest cell phone service provider has acquired 945,000 new customers during the time and the clientele now stands at 9.404 million, according to its third quarter’s results published on Thursday. It now claims to have 63 percent market share.

   Such a massive customer base has predictably caused sequential decline in GP’s overall monthly average revenue per user (APPU) by nine percent to $6.35 in Q3. Its 95 percent (8.9 million) prepaid subscribers’ ARPU was $4.80 while the high-end postpaid customers paid $34.06. GP’s Q3 prepaid ARPU has eroded by 31 percent against last year’s figures. Its postpaid ARPU has also gone down by 22 percent over the same time.

   This is the very first time GP’s prepaid ARPU has gone below the $5-mark—a recognised trend in the fast-growing mobile phone markets.

   On average, a GP customer spoke for 214 minutes in every month of the third quarter—one minute higher than the preceding quarter. It is, however, four percent less than last year’s third quarter talk time.

   GP has also benefited from the overall growth of the telecoms market. It has squeezed $14.6 million off its competitors in interconnection charges— a 21 percent sequential growth and 81 percent jump from last year’s third quarter income from the rivals.

   The largest-ever clientele has blessed GP with $175.43 million gross revenue, which is by far its highest quarterly earning. It has also sequentially grown 14 percent and increased 46 percent from last year’s third quarter earnings.

   GP has made $478 million gross turnover in all the three quarters of this year, which is four percent higher than what it earned in the whole of last year.

4. 

   samarajiva

   October 31, 2006, 2:33 pm

   Dialog’s latest numbers are at http://www.dialog.lk/en/corporate/ir/financial/quarterlyreports.html.

   On the subject of ARPUs, the latest for this company, the market leader in LK, are

   Prepaid = 438 LKR/mo.
   Postpaid = 1,698 LKR/mo.
   Blended = 680 LKR/mo.

   Current exchange rate: LKR 106.6 = USD 1

5. 

   Divakar Goswami

   November 2, 2006, 6:34 pm

   I am not able to find unblended ARPUs for Indian mobile, which is kind of strange, can someone help?

   I am currently working on Indonesia and telecom results from the operators have just been released. In every which way you look, the sector as a whole is doing well, profitability is up and so is number of subscribers. For CDMA operator Esia, subscriber numbers have grown by as much as 350% compared to last year! For other mobile operators it ranges from 40% to 60%. ARPU numners have been going down from year to year and is as low as $3.13 for Telkom’s Fixed Wireless service called Flexi.

   Capex spending is also up and the results are there to see in terms of infrastructure rollout. For example, Excelcom has nearly doubled its BTS from 3,620 in 2005 to 6,052 this year!

   ARPU H1 July 30, 2006
   Mobile Operators
   Telkomsel
   Postpaid (kartuHALO) $29.90
   Prepaid (simPati) $8.96

   Excelcom
   Postpaid $23.96
   Prepaid $4.64

   Indosat
   Postpaid $22.53
   Prepaid $5.5

   Fixed Wireless Access (CDMA)
   Telkom Flexi
   Postpaid (Classy) $15.22
   Prepaid (Trendy) $3.13

   Esia (Bakrie Telecom)
   Postpaid $21.46,
   Prepaid$6.9
   ————
   Telkom, Excelcomindo, Bakrie Telecom report rising profits
   Telegeography Nov 2, 2006

   Three of Indonesia’s leading telecoms service providers, PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom), mobile operator PT Excelcomindo Pratama (Excelcom) and CDMA-based fixed wireless operator PT Bakrie Telecom, have reported strong profit rises in the first nine months of 2006 on the back of impressive subscriber gains. Incumbent Telkom posted a 62% rise in net profits in the period January-September […]

   GSM mobile operator Excelcom earlier reported a 59% rise in revenues to IDR1.54 trillion in the first nine months of 2006, up from IDR972 billion a year earlier, driven by substantial growth in subscriber numbers. The operator had 8.4 million customers at the end of September, up 43% on the 5.9 million reported at end-September 2005. Net income rose to IDR142 billion in the third quarter, and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBTIDA) rose by 57% to IDR712 billion. Capital expenditure reached IDR988 billion in the first nine months of 2006, up 11% year-on-year, as the company increased the number of base transceiver stations (BTS) in service by 67% to 6,052, from 3,620 previously.

   Meanwhile, PT Bakrie Telecom booked a net profit of around IDR52 billion in the January-September period, reversing a net loss of IDR112 billion last time round. Gross revenues were up a massive 131% to IDR588 billion, while net revenues rose by 159% to IDR427 billion – again attributed to strong subscriber growth. The number of people signed up to the company’s fixed wireless access service, Esia, stood at 1.3 million by the end of September, up from 307,000 twelve months earlier. Esia currently covers a number of cities in West Java, including Bogor, Serang, Cirebon, Purwakarta, Tasikmalaya, Ciamis and Cianjur, in addition to Jakarta, Tangerang and Depok. Bakrie Telecom plans to expand its footprint to another seven cities in West Java by the end of the year.

6. 

   Divakar Goswami

   November 3, 2006, 8:59 am

   Hutchinson’s results are also out. They are relying on markets in India (their fastest growing) and Indonesia(where they will start service in 2007) to increase revenues as their “home” market in Hong Kong has more mobile phones than people! (129%).

   India ARPUs Q2 2006
   Postpaid $24.86
   Prepaid $6.30

   Hutchinson Q3 net touches $13 million, users up by 75%

   http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=145313

   [..]Hutchison Telecom is relying on emerging markets such as Indonesia and India to boost earnings as growth stalls in Hong Kong, where there are more cell phone subscriptions than people. The company said it more than doubled the number of subscribers in India in the third quarter from a year earlier, and boosted customers 60% from the second quarter.

   “The investment we made” in other markets “is paying off,” Pennington said. “The major factors affecting profit in the fourth quarter will be the impact of India, Vietnam and Indonesia as we prepare to launch new services.”

   The number of subscribers in India, Hutchison Telecom’s fastest-growing market, rose to 20.4 million, from 9.7 million a year earlier and 17.5 million at the end of the second quarter, the company said.

   Subscribers in Hong Kong grew to 2.1 million from 1.9 million, it said. The city has a mobile-phone penetration rate of 129%, according the Office of the Telecomm Authority.

   The company said it will start a service in Vietnam in the “first few months of 2007” and Indonesia “will be soon after.” [..]

   Postpaid average revenue per user (ARPU) in India fell 4% to Rs 1,066, while in Hong Kong it dropped 1% to HK$204. The company said blended ARPU at its business in Israel rose 1% to 164 shekels ($38.3) […]

7. 

   Divakar Goswami

   November 3, 2006, 2:08 pm

   The common wisdom is that South Asia has amongst the lowest mobile ARPUs in the world. Evidence suggests otherwise. Hutchinson\’s ARPUs in Hong Kong+Macau are lower than India\’s. Hutch\’s prepaid ARPU in Hong Kong is nearly half its ARPU in India! And what is more surprising is that postpaid ARPUs in India and Hong Kong are comparable.

   Q2 2006 Hong Kong Macau
   Postpaid $26.5
   Prepaid $3.6 (India $6.30)

8. 

   Mahinda Herath

   February 11, 2007, 10:34 am

   Divakar, the unblended ARPUs for India is available at the TRAI website. (Refer performance indicator reports). Of course, the figures are not given operator-wise but the country wide unblended ARPUs are available for GSM and CDMA separately.

9. 

   Divakar Goswami

   February 11, 2007, 5:11 pm

   Mahinda, I was looking for Indian operators’ unblended ARPUs, especially Bharti’s (I have gone through its annual reports and haven’t found it). Because of the impending decision by Hutch to sell its stake in India, there has been a number of news stories that have focussed on the company’s performance. It has been stated that Hutch’s ARPU in India is the highest among the other Indian mobile operators. Would be nice to know what the ARPU’s are for the individual Indian operators…