Asked on the Airtel conference call about the situation of Mobile Internet (data) prices being as low as Rs 50 per GB, and whether there is any concern regarding getting stuck at such a low price point, Airtel India MD & CEO Gopal Vittal didn't appear worried. Airtel has been pushed to drop rates by "predatory pricing" from Reliance Jio, whose welcome offer of free data and free voice calls has led to incumbent operators dropping rates. Vittal said "I am not concerned about the Rs 50 per GB in as much as I am concerned about ARPU"..."the cost of producing a megabyte is almost nothing, once you have sunk your money into the spectrum and put in the CapEx (Capital Expenditure). I think you might as well get a lot more revenue." "...let me give you an example. If two years ago, our consumption was 500 megabytes a month with a pricing, or a realization at Rs 270 a gigabyte. Today, it is about 1 GB a month with a realization, which is around Rs 170 a gigabyte. This still gives us about Rs 160 to Rs 170 ARPU. And tomorrow, if it is Rs 50 and you are getting 4 gigabytes a month on an average, you should get Rs 200 ARPU. So I think it is an ARPU game and that is a function of how demand shapes up. And we have seen that when you get the right pricing, we do see elasticity on data. So I think this is…
