Airtel, Vodafone and Idea dominate Indian telecom sector

The three GSM incumbents have jointly crossed 70% in revenue market share, Trai data show

Joji Thomas Philip

Updated5 Sep 2013, 01:56 PM IST

Bharti, Idea and Vodafone already constitute 90% of the wireless Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization), but only 40% of the estimated industry debt. Photo: Ramesh Pathania/Mint — Bharti, Idea and Vodafone already constitute 90% of the wireless Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization), but only 40% of the estimated industry debt. Photo: Ramesh Pathania/Mint (Ramesh Pathania/Mint)

At first glance, the telecom regulator’s numbers reveal that in the Indian market, Bharti Airtel Ltd , Vodafone India Ltd and Idea Cellular Ltd continue to lead the revenue market share charts. But take a deeper dive into the latest numbers released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) and it reveals a landmark shift in India’s telecom sector: GSM incumbents—Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular—have jointly crossed 70% in revenue market share.

add_main_imageNumbers don’t lie and this is precisely what they show: These three operators had a 99.6% share of the incremental revenues during the June 2013 quarter. Even if one were to assume that this was a one-off quarter, you still cannot fight the numbers—over the last 12 months, Bharti, Vodafone and Idea, have captured 91.1% of incremental revenues in a 13-player hyper competitive market.

Face it: the Indian telecom market has already consolidated in the minds of the consumers. For long, it has been argued that the Indian telecom sector is on the cusp of a consolidation and easier merger and acquisition rules will speed up the process. But the numbers are telling us a different story. The numbers spell disaster for many players in the sector who may be left with no choice but to take the exit route. NextMAds

R-Com, which has been battling high debt and falling revenue market share, may have turned the corner after its infrastructure-sharing deals with elder brother Mukesh Ambani -owned Reliance Jio and could re-emerge as a formidable competitor in the near future. Tata Teleservices, Aircel, R-Com and Loop have recently signed intra-circle roaming pacts in an attempt to take on the big three.

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