CDMA revenue per user rises, GSM earnings dip

New Delhi: Average revenue per user (ARPU), the bread and butter benchmark of the telecom industry, declined for GSM (global systems for mobile communications) operators to Rs261 in December 2007, from Rs275 in September 2007.

However, in the corresponding period, for code division multiple access (CDMA) players, ARPUs have shown an increase to Rs176 per month, from Rs173 earlier, says a report by telecom regulator, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

For both GSM and CDMA players, ARPUs are highest in the metros, at Rs346 and Rs224 per month respectively.

Metros, however, lead the pack from the rear for GSM players when it comes to outgoing minutes of use (MoUs), or outbound / dialled out calls, metros are at the bottom of the list both for post-paid and pre-paid categories. They recorded the lowest minutes of outgoing calls in the quarter-ended December 2007,  at 466 minutes per user per month in the GSM post-paid category. In pre-paid GSM, metro callers dialled out 162 minutes per user per month.

Blended MoUs (post-paid and pre-paid together) show metros at the top, with 482 minutes of total minutes of use, of which 227 minutes of were outgoing calls, and 256 minutes incoming calls.

In the CDMA post-paid category, metros were in the second place from the top in terms of outgoing minutes of calls at 558 minutes per user per month. In pre-paid CDMA, metros were at number three in terms of minutes of outgoing calls.

Blended minutes for CDMA players saw metros at number two in the list at 394 minutes, of which outgoing MoUs were 204 minutes and incoming MoUs were 190 minutes.