Telcos fight to keep network costs in check; Voda Idea spends highest

The reason for high network spends lately has been due to incumbent telcos trying to provide 4G services on a par with Reliance Jio

The financials of telecom companies indicate that network cost as a per cent of mobile revenues ranged between 25 and 30 per cent between financial years 2013 to 2018. 

But entry of Reliance Jio in FY17 led to a massive 4G rollout by the telcos across circles, leading to a rise in network cost. Vodafone Idea Ltd currently leads the pack with almost 43.3 per cent network operating expenses (opex) as per cent of revenue. It, however, managed to reduce it by around 10 per cent in the March quarter.

The reason for high network spends lately has been due to incumbent