Airtel will support all 5G smartphones, except for iPhone models from mid-November, Airtel CEO Gopal Vittal said
All 5G-enabled smartphones, except Apple’s iPhone, will start supporting Airtel 5G service in the middle of this month, a senior Bharti Airtel official said.
During the company earnings call, Bharti Airtel CEO and CEO Gopal Vittal said Apple will release a software update in the first week of November and all of its devices will support the company. 5G service in mid-December.
Airtel is providing 5G service in 4G but will likely factor in the price of next-generation services over the next 6-9 months, he added.
“SAMSUNG… I think there are 27 5G models. 16 models are ready and activated. The rest will take place by November 10-12. OnePlus All 17 models will work on our network. Vivo all 34 models, Myself All 34 models will work on our network. Xiaomithere are all 33 models and Oppo All 14 models will work. Apple has 13 models. They should have (software update) around the first week of November and by mid-December it will all be ready,” Vittal said.
According to market research firm IDC, 5.1 crore 5G smartphones are shipped between 2020 and the first half of 2022 and they are expected to surpass 50% market share by 2023.
However, some 5G smartphones have been unable to access 5G services due to lack of compatibility between the network and mobile phones.
Vittal said the company expects to cover all urban Indian towns as well as key rural areas by March 2024.
He said the company is in the 5G network building phase and “then we make a decision on what we do, maybe, in the next 6-9 months.” “As the network starts to mature, we will see a significant portion of our existing data traffic on 4G move to Airtel 5G plus. This is important as it will allow us to gradually migrate. more and more spectrum to 5G at the touch of a button We have also started testing SA (standalone) mode on 5G which could be suitable for some business use cases “, he said.
Bharti Airtel can advance a network investment of Rs 23,000-24,000 crore per year to accelerate the rollout of 5G services and gain market share.
Do not name the debt piled up Vodafone ideaVittal said, “Given the difficult financial situation that one of the industry players is experiencing, we feel that the time is ripe for Airtel to take the lead and become the brand with decisive ambitions. With this, we expect a continued lead, especially in the postpaid segment.” Bharti Airtel posted an 89% increase in consolidated net profit year-on-year. prior to the September quarter at Rs 2,145 crore, as higher revenue per user, more data consumption and an expanded 4G base boosted the performance.
Airtel’s total revenue increased by nearly 22% year-on-year to Rs 34,527 crore in the quarter just ended.
The company attributes this to “strong and consistent performance delivery across its entire portfolio and over 500 million customers globally”.
Q2 net profit stretched expectations across the street, although the revenue figure was higher than market estimates.
Average revenue per user or ARPU (a key metric for telcos) stood at Rs 190 in the just ended quarter compared with Rs 153 in Q2 of FY22, helped by a focus on quality customers, upgrade feature phones to smartphones, and monetize data, says Airtel.
Vittal says the company has only 8.5% return on investments, which is very low and can be achieved by investing in financial instruments.
“This return on capital needs to go up. We’re not talking about major corrections. We’re already at Rs 190 ARPU. We need to see a correction. When does this happen, I’m going to see a correction. have no right to say. We are monitoring this space and see the time is right,” he said.
