The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recently released the per­formance indicator report (PIR) for the July-September 2018 quarter. The report, prepared on the basis of information provided by service providers, highlights the trends in the telecom sector du­ring this period.

According to the report, the country’s telecom subscriber base (wireless and wireline) increased from 1,168.89 million as of end June 2018 to 1,191.40 million as of end September 2018, registering an in­crease of 1.93 per cent over the previous quarter. However, the subscriber base re­flec­­ted a year-on-year decline of 1.27 per cent, over the same quarter in 2017. The overall teledensity increased from 89.72 per cent as of June 30, 2018 to 91.20 per cent as of September 30, 2018.

Vodafone Idea Limited (VIL) led the pack with 435.22 million subscribers as of September 30, 2018, followed by Bharti Air­­tel (348.52 million) and Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (252.25 million). With regard to net additions during the quarter, Reliance Jio recorded the highest growth with 37 million additions, while all other op­erators reported a decline. Telecom subs­crip­tion in urban areas increased from 652.76 million as of end June 2018 to 666.64 million as of end September 2018, while urban teledensity increased from 158.16 per cent to 160.79 per cent.

The rural telecom subscriber base in­crea­s­ed from 516.13 million to 524.76 million during the same period, resulting in an increase in rural teledensity from 57.99 per cent to 58.85 per cent. However, the share of rural subscribers in the total user base declined from 44.16 per cent in June 2018 to 44.05 per cent in September 2018. VIL held the highest share of rural subscribers (52.97 per cent) in its user base, followed by Bharti Airtel (49.30 per cent).

Wireline

The country’s wireline subscriber base reduced from 22.4 million to 22.11 million during the period under review, thereby decreasing wireline teledensity from 1.72 per cent to 1.69 per cent. The rural subs­criber base decreased from 3.24 million to 3.17 million, a decline of 2.13 per cent over the previous quarter. Meanwhile, the urban subscriber base declined from 19.16 million to 18.95 million, down by 1.11 per cent over the previous quarter. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited continued to lead the market with a 52.64 per cent share.

However, the company’s subscriber base decreased by 2.08 per cent during July-September 2018 to stand at 11.64 million at the end of the quarter. Only Bharti Airtel and Vodafone India recorded net subs­criber additions during the period, while all other operators registered a dec­line. The total number of public call of­f­ices in the country declined from 330,504 as of end June 2018 to 305,395 as of end September 2018. Mean­while, the number of village public telephones declined from 186,951 to 123,736. At the end of the quarter, 20.84 per cent of the country’s 593,731 inhabited villages (as per Census 2001) were connected.

Wireless

The total wireless (GSM and CDMA) subscriber base increased by 1.99 per cent from 1,146.49 million in June 2018 to 1,169.29 million in September 2018. The teledensity increased from 88 per cent to 89.51 per cent. The share of rural subs­cribers in the total wireless subscriber base declined from 44.74 per cent to 44.61 per cent during the period under review. The total wireless data usage increased from 10,418,076 terabytes during the quarter en­­­ded June 2018 to 15,549,891 terabytes du­ring the quarter ended September 2018. Of the total wireless data usage, 2G data accoun­­ted for 113,445 terabytes, 3G for 1,461,827 terabytes, 4G for 10,914,498 terabytes and CDMA for 121 terabytes.

Other value-added services

The subscriptions for public mobile radio trunk services (PMRTS) increased from 56,083 as of end-June 2018 to 56,700 as of end-September 2018 at a quarterly growth rate of 1.10 per cent. Meanwhile, the total number of very small aperture terminal (VSAT) subscribers increased 2.34 per cent, from 275,463 to 281,912, recording a net addition of 6,449. Hugh­es Communi­cation Limited continued to be the market leader in the VSAT space with a subscriber base of 101,299 followed by Bharti Airtel (77,399).

Mobile ARPUs and usage

The monthly all-India blended ARPU declined from Rs 69 in the quarter ended June 2018 to Rs 67 in the quarter ended September 2018, at a quarterly decline rate of 2.55 per cent. Prepaid and post-paid ARPUs stood at Rs 57 and Rs 299 respectively as of end-September 2018.

The overall minutes of usage (MoUs) per subscriber per month increased from 607 during the quarter ended June 2018 to 627 during the quarter ended September 2018, at a rate of 3.29 per cent. The ratio of incoming and outgoing MOUs stood at 49.3:50.7. The usage pattern outside the home service area showed that incoming minutes accounted for 35.34 per cent of the total MoUs of out-roamers in the quarter ended September 2018. Meanwhile, the number of outgoing SMS per subscriber per month declined from 19 to 17 during the same period.

Quality of service

During July-September 2018, the performance of wireless service providers im­­pro­v­ed in terms of RRC congestion, the network quality of service (QoS) DCR spatial distribution measure, the network QoS DCR temporal distribution measure, mete­ring and billing credibility (prepaid), resolution of billing/charging/validity comp­laints, accessibility to call centres/customer care, percentage of calls answered by operators (voice to voice) within 90 seconds, and percentage of requests for the termination/closure of services complied with within seven days.

On the other hand, the QoS of wireless service providers deteriorated on account of metering and billing credibility (post-paid), time taken in the refund of deposits after closures, and TCH, RAB and E-RAB congestion. The QoS performance of wireline service providers im­proved in terms of resolution of billing/ charging/credit and validity complaints.  Meanwhile, it deteriorated on account of time taken to respond to the customer for assistance, and percentage of requests for the termination/closure of services complied with within seven days.

Internet and broadband

As of end September 2018, the country had 560.01 million internet subscribers, in­­cluding those accessing the internet through mobile handsets. Of this, the wired internet subscriber base stood at 21.26 million. RJIL led the internet market with 252.25 million subscribers as of end-September 2018, followed by Voda­fone Idea Limited (140.119 million) and Bharti Airtel (126.94 million). The top 10 internet service providers together ac­c­oun­­ted for 99.40 per cent of the subscriber base. The top five circles in terms of internet subscriptions (wired and wireless) were Maharashtra (46.11 million), Andhra Pradesh (43.78 million), Tamil Nadu, including Chennai (40.71 million), Uttar Pradesh (East) (38.18 million) and Gujarat (35.91 million).

As of September 2018, there were 481.70 million broadband subscribers in In­­dia. Wireless (dongle and phone) was the most preferred technology for providing broad­­band services and it constituted 96.09 per cent of the total broadband subscriber base. The top five circles in terms of broad­ba­­­nd subscriptions were Maha­rashtra (40.21 million), Andhra Pradesh in­­cluding Te­­langana (38.28 million), Ta­mil Nadu including Chennai (35.90 million), Gujarat (32.16 million) and Karna­taka (31.74 million).

Financial performance

The telecom sector’s gross revenue and the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) stood at Rs 578.27 billion and Rs 361.42 billion respectively, during the quarter ended September 2018, a decline of 0.98 per cent and 1.12 per cent over the previous quarter.

Akanksha Mahajan Marwah