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Airtel on the verge of surpassing Vi as market lead in postpaid segment

Airtel's postpaid customer base is doing incredibly well. 22.3 million consumers made up Airtel's consumer postpaid mobile sector at the end of the third quarter, up 0.9 million from 21.4 million same time the previous quarter.

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Ayushi Singh
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Airtel now has 48.3 million postpaid customers overall, up 0.9 million from Q3 of FY24.

Leading Indian telecom provider Bharti Airtel is on the verge of displacing Vodafone Idea (Vi) as the market leader in postpaid mobile services. In India, the two biggest postpaid carriers are Airtel and Vi, with Jio only starting to make inroads into the market. Postpaid services include those provided to businesses as well as consumers. Airtel just released its Q3 FY24 financial results.

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According to the data, Airtel now has 48.3 million postpaid customers overall, up 0.9 million from Q3 of FY24. Airtel's postpaid customer base is doing incredibly well. 22.3 million consumers made up Airtel's consumer postpaid mobile sector at the end of the third quarter, up 0.9 million from 21.4 million same time the previous quarter.

At the conclusion of Q3 FY24, Airtel has 22.3 million subscribers. In contrast, Vodafone Idea boasted a customer base of 23.67 million postpaid mobile users. Based on the rate of postpaid subscriber additions, Airtel appears to be on the verge of surpassing Vi in this regard. Here, Vi is rising at the expense of Airtel as the pressed for cash Vi is losing market share to Jio and Airtel quickly due to its inability to provide 5G and their poor 4G availability and coverage.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) also recently sent show-cause letter to Vodafone Idea (Vi) asking it to explain why it shouldn't be penalized for not meeting the Minimum Rollout Obligations (MRO) associated with 5G spectrum in India. 

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DoT has also given notifications to Vi requesting  to provide the rationale behind the 5G rollout delay as well as the dates by which it would begin offering services.Vodafone Idea reportedly might have to pay a charge of roughly Rs 14 crore.

Additionally, by encouraging customers to move from prepaid to postpaid connections, Airtel Black service from Airtel is helping the telco increase its average revenue per user (ARPU) statistic. The business norm in India for postpaid rates is Rs 399 per month, which is what Airtel offers.

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