Analysts positive on telecom service providers despite delay in tariff hike

India Ratings believes increasing data usage and rising proportion of higher ARPU data customers in the overall subscriber mix hint that even without tariff hikes, the sector is structurally strong

A delay in expected tariff hikes by Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea (Vi), and Reliance Jio has not turned analysts cautious on the sector. On the contrary, the underperformance of Airtel and Vi relative to the Sensex and BSE Telecom indices on a year-to-date (YTD) basis, can be used as an opportunity to enter these stocks from a long-term perspective, they say.

Thus far in CY21, Airtel has risen 2.6 per cent on the BSE, while Vi has declined 14.4 per cent. RIL’s stock that is now seen by analysts as a play both on telecom and oil has risen 0.5 per