Idea added over 9 million new devices to its network during Q2 FY17, which is significantly higher than the 6.5 million devices that it added in the preceding quarter (Q1 FY17). During an analyst call, the company’s CEO Himanshu Kapania said that the growth in device additions is due to consumers moving on to buy new 4G enabled smartphones in the market. He added that the earlier Idea added only “2 million to 3 million device” every quarter. Kapania said that Idea has been focusing coverage into populated towns in the past few quarters, and most additions of devices came from larger towns compared to the smaller ones. According to Idea’s estimates, there are currently over a billion mobile phones in India, and Kapania differentiates these into: i) 2G/3G market with 850 million feature/smart phones ii) 4G market with 150 million LTE enabled phones. He further pointed out that in the combined 2G/3G market, “battle is among the top 3 operators,” while the smaller operators in the same market are in the mode of exiting. “The (2G/3G) market will consolidate and because the market will consolidate, all of us are in the race to add subscribers,” Kapania added. “There is no point responding at this point of time,” he said, referring to 4G segment where Jio is currently providing free service; Idea plans on revealing new tariff for 4G once Jio moves on from free to paid services. Jio’s lifetime free voice is ‘marketing gimmick’; 4G market will be ARPU…
