For the quarter ending March 31, 2018 (Q4FY18), data consumption on Idea Cellular networks has increased 6.44 times year on year, and 43% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ). Total mobile internet traffic, which includes 2G, 3G and 4G, data volume stood at 818.1 billion MB for the quarter, as compared to 571.3 billion MB in the preceding quarter, and 127 billion MB in the same quarter last year. The average usage by subscribers stood at 6,065 MB, compared to 4,742 MB in the preceding quarter, and 957 MB in the same quarter last year. Growth in data consumption is due to competitive market pressure from other telecoms: Idea has been providing cheaper data services to its customers, because of which data consumption has increased. Idea’s broadband segment data volume usage stood at 793 billion MB for the quarter, increasing significantly from 549 billion MB in the preceding quarter and 104 billion MB in the same quarter last year. The average usage by subscribers stood at 7,013 MB, compared to 5,708 MB in the preceding quarter, and 1,381 MB in the same quarter last year. Internet connections Idea Cellular reported that it has 46.8 million mobile internet connections, up 9.8% from 42.6 million in the previous quarter. The change in the nature of the connections continues: there was a decline in 2G connections, and a growth in 4G. Of the 46.8 million data connections, 39.8 million (85%) are now Broadband (3G+4G). In the previous quarter, 34.8 million (82%) connections were broadband. The company lost 0.83 million 2G…
