Differing views by ratings agencies on JioPhone impact

JioPhone has led to different perspectives emerging from leading rating agencies. While ICRA, on Monday, said that it is positive from an Average Revenue Per User (ARPU), rival Crisil has forecasted a mammoth slowdown in terms of data usage to four times in the coming five years from the present 24 times. “JioPhone is likely to keep the competitive intensity of the industry high with RJio targeting strong addition of lower ARPU subscribers and/or rural subscribers,” ICRA said.
 
At the same time, ICRA also raised concerns over the success of the offering, including it being a bundled phone which has not succeeded in the domestic market so far many times, the tricky issue of bundling of apps and creating a walled garden, and if it can let a customer use other apps. Meanwhile, Crisil said that faster penetration would be supported by a continued drop in tariffs given the intense fight for market leadership and telcos will have to increasingly sweat per-subscriber usage to bolster incremental revenues.