It is frankly strange to see Vodafone Idea (Vi) not aggressively fighting Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel for 2G users. There are over 300 million legacy network users in the country. If these users are upgraded to 4G soon, the overall income of the telcos will increase dramatically. However, it won’t happen with the push from a single telecom operator. Every operator including Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel needs to deliver incentives to these legacy network customers so that they can upgrade to 4G. But it is easier said than done. The financials of the telcos are already beaten enough. So they can’t go all out on offering incentives. But Airtel and Jio have still managed a way to come out with smartphone offers to attract legacy network users. Surprisingly, Vodafone Idea (Vi) has not made a single move. The telco is mum and isn’t doing a lot to attract legacy network users.
Vodafone Idea High Debt and Low Income a Problem
Almost anyone can comfortably guess that high debt and low income would be a very big problem for any business. Vodafone Idea is in a very down position right now. But the telco is expected to make a comeback soon on the back of all the relief measures that the government has provided to the telecom sector in the last few months. It would be interesting to see Vodafone Idea coming out with a new 4G smartphone offer for consumers in India. But this is just speculation from our end at the moment. Vodafone Idea might not be in a position to offer cashbacks or incentives right now. The telco is focused on increasing its average revenue per user (ARPU) figure and that is where its focus will lie for the next few months. Vi might not be very scared of losing customers right now if it can get its ARPU figure up.
