During an analysts conference call, Bharti Airtel executives were asked about the stagnant share of non-voice revenues, and whether it is desirable for the company to grow it. The company’s SMS revenues took a hit, going down from 6.6 percent to 4.4 percent, and Non-Voice down from 10.4 percent to 9.3 percent year-on-year. Sanjay Kapoor, President, Mobile Services for Airtel responded, saying that “If you look at any market where non-voice is higher than 10 percent, SMS is around 80-85 percent of that. One major differences here is that although the volumes are much higher, the rate in India is phenomenally lower. Also, with voice prices lowering, customers prefer to call since the price is comparable, unlike in countries like the Phillipines. Non-voice revenues on 2G will not go above 10 percent, so as long as we can sustain 9-10 percent, we should be fine,” he said. So I guess we shouldn’t expect any miracles in VAS yet - at least, not until 3G.

Broadband: Airtel has 7,51,000 broadband customers, adding only around 46,000 subs in Q3. Only 34.5 percent of Airtel’s 2.18 million fixed line/Telemedia subs in 94 cities have broadband. Broadband margins were at 43.4 percent. Telemedia ARPUs are at around $28.7, down from $30.1 in Q3 last fiscal, though margins are reportedly up. The company has said it has decided to focus on the classes instead of the masses to drive profits, so primarily on the small and medium businesses segment. “We believe we’re at a point of inflexion on driving broadband penetration into homes and small and medium enterprises.”

IPTV Delayed: If you remember - Airtel was supposed to launch IPTV services in December last year. That’s been delayed—DTH and IPTV will be launched in the first quarter of the next fiscal. Airtel IPTV currently has around 1000 customers in NCR, and they’ll begin with that market.

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