Reliance Communications (RCOM) reported 38.9 million mobile Internet connections for the quarter ended March 31, 2016 (Q4FY16), almost flat from 38.8 million mobile Internet connections reported in the preceding quarter, and up by 15.4% from 33.7 million connections in the corresponding quarter last year. Note that RCOM had started culling incidental mobile Internet users from Q4FY15. Incidental data users are users who have consumed less than 1 MB/month. This followed a similar move from Idea Cellular in Q3-FY14 and Airtel in Q1-FY15. Idea Cellular now only includes those users who consume more than 10 MB/month. 3G connections versus 2G connections RCOM’s 3G connection base stood at 24.2 million and now accounts for 62.21% of all data connections. 3G connections were up 4.76% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) from 23.1 million, and up 39% year-on-year (YoY) from 17.4 million. The 2G connection base also decreased to 14.7 million, from 15.7 million in the previous quarter. RCOM’s 3G connection base had surpassed its 2G mobile Internet connection base in Q1FY16. The share of 3G connections in Airtel's total data connections also crossed the 50% threshold in Q3FY16. The company reported total customer base of 103.6 million at the end of Q4FY16, and added 1.5 million new connections during the quarter. Mobile Internet data – Data usage per connection decreased to 899 MB per data customer from 905 MB per data customer in the preceding quarter. – Data traffic on RCOMs network has increased to 104.7 billion MB, up 20% YoY and up 1.5% QoQ. – Average revenue per user (ARPU) increased to Rs 157 for…
