By offering free voice services for life, and free data services over a six-month period, India’s Reliance Jio telecommunications company triggered a price war that affected the rest of the country’s telecom providers. Profits have fallen, and a phase of consolidation has begun in India’s mobile market. A merger between Vodafone India and Idea, that is pending clearance from Indian authorities, will overtake Mumbai-based Bharti Airtel Ltd., to become a new market leader.
Airtel’s first-quarter net profit fell to $56 million, from $195 million in the year-earlier period. Airtel was forced to reduce the prices of data and voice services to prevent customer churn. On a more positive note, its base of data customers grew by 4.5%, with data usage up 37%.
Earnings reports show drops in average revenue per user across all players. Airtel’s monthly average revenue per user fell from $2.9 a year ago to $2.4 in the most recent quarter. Idea’s is down from $2.7 to $2.1 over the same period. Significantly, both Airtel and Vodafone added new customers in the first quarter. Vodafone picked up another 4.4 million subscribers, while Airtel gained as many as 7.7 million. Idea, however, lost 6.4 million customers in the same quarter, reports LightReading.
Last updated: December 26th, 2025
