Vodafone Idea’s strategy to retain its pole position in the industry revolves around simplified tariff plans, faster integration and strengthening its balance sheet, its chief executive officer said, adding that current unsustainable pricing will repair given the consolidation in the sector. Balesh Sharma told that the company will invest in key and profitable areas, focus on controlling costs in non-priority ones, reduce number of price plans and maintain a minimum low value recharge for subscribers, so all come under a billing cycle in a bid to raise average revenue per user (ARPU). He added that the company would focus on expanding 4G at this juncture as India is not yet 5G ready.
Vodafone Idea, with 422 million customers, also aims to use big data and analytics to improve ARPU, a key industry parameter that has plunged since Reliance Jio Infocomm’s entry in September 2016, which triggered a brutal price war. Sharma said the industry is bleeding but is hopeful prices will repair materially on consolidation.