Airtel Digital TV subscribers down 11,000 in 3Q 2021

GURUGRAM, India — Bharti Airtel Limited (“Bharti Airtel” or “the Company”) today announced its audited consolidated Ind AS results for the second quarter ended September 30, 2021.

As on September 30, 2021, the Company had its Digital TV operations in 639 districts. The customer base of the company stood at 18.0 Mn at the end of Q2’22, a growth of 3.5% YoY from 17.4 Mn in the corresponding quarter last year. ARPU for the quarter was at Rs 148, flat as compared to corresponding quarter last year.

Operational Performance – India – Digital TV Services

                                  Unit  Sep-21  Jun-21  Mar-21  Dec-20  Sep-20
                                 -----  ------  ------  ------  ------  ------
Digital TV Customers             000's  17,987  17,999  17,716  17,872  17,387
Net additions                    000's     -11     282    -156     485     549
Average Revenue Per User (ARPU)     Rs     148     151     144     149     148
Average Revenue Per User (ARPU)     US     2.0     2.1     2.0     2.0     2.0 
Monthly Churn                        %    2.2%    1.4%    2.2%    1.4%    1.5%

Airtel’s Direct-To-Home (DTH) platform offers both standard and high definition (HD) digital TV services with 3D capabilities and Dolby surround sound. The company currently offers a total of 667 channels including 85 HD channels (including 2 HD SVOD services), 54 SVOD services, 7 international channels and 4 interactive services.

Airtel has introduced Made-in-India High Definition Set Top Boxes for customers. The Set Top Boxes are being manufactured in Noida, Uttar Pradesh by Skyworth Electronics. Airtel plans to fully transition to Made-in-India Set Top Boxes, including the high-end Airtel Xstream 4K Android TV Box, by the end of 2021 and contribute local manufacturing and Government of India’s Atmanirbhar vision.