The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recently released the performance indicator report (PIR) for the July-September 2023 quarter. The report, prepared on the basis of information provided by service providers, highlights the growth trends in the telecom sector during this period.

According to the report, the country’s telecom subscriber base (wireless and wireline) increased from 1,173.89 million at the end of June 2023 to 1,181.13 million at the end of September 2023, registering a growth of 0.61 per cent. In addition, the subscriber base reflected a year-on-year growth rate of 0.78 per cent over the same quarter in 2022. The overall teledensity increased from 84.43 per cent as of June 30, 2023 to 84.76 per cent as of September 30, 2023.

Reliance Jio emerged as the leader with 459.67 million subscribers as of September 30, 2023, followed by Bharti Airtel at 385.71 million and Vodafone Idea Limited (Vi) at 228.19 million. In terms of net additions during the quarter, Jio registered the highest net additions of 11.13 million subscribers, followed by Airtel at 4.47 million. Meanwhile, Vi lost 2.15 million subscribers during the reported quarter.

Telecom subscriptions in urban areas increased from 653.7 million as of end June 2023 to 658.46 million at the end of September 2023 while urban teledensity increased from 133.19 per cent to 133.54 per cent. Meanwhile, the rural telecom subscriber base increased from 520.19 million to 522.66 million, and rural teledensity increased from 57.83 per cent to 58.05 per cent. However, the share of rural subscribers in the total user base decreased from 44.31 per cent to 44.25 per cent during the period under consideration.

Wireline

The country’s wireline subscriber base increased from 30.31 million to 30.98 million during the period under review. Wireline teledensity increased from 2.18 per cent at the end of June 2023 to 2.22 per cent at the end of September 2023.

The rural wireline subscriber base remained consistent at 2.68 million as of end September 2023. Meanwhile, the urban wireline subscriber base increased from 27.63 million to 28.3 million, up by 3.4 per cent.

Jio continued to lead the market with a 33.75 per cent share. The company’s subscriber base increased by 5.12 per cent during the period July-September 2023 to stand at 10.46 million at the end of the quarter. Jio also recorded the highest net additions (0.5 million subscribers) amongst all operators during the period, followed by Airtel with 0.42 million net additions.

The total number of public call offices in the country declined from 36,259 at the end of June 2023 to 30,643 at the end of September 2023. Meanwhile, the number of village public telephones stood at 68,606 during the quarter.

Wireless

The total wireless subscriber base increased by 0.57 per cent from 1,143.58 million in June 2023 to 1,150.15 million in September 2023. Teledensity increased from 82.25 per cent to 82.54 per cent. The rural wireless subscriber base increased from 517.51 million to 519.99 million. The share of rural subscribers in the total wireless subscriber base decreased to 45.21 per cent during the period under consideration. Meanwhile, the number of urban wireless subscribers increased from 626.07 million to 630.17 million.

With a subscriber base of 449.21 million, Jio had the highest share of 39.06 per cent in the wireless market, followed by Airtel with 377.78 million users (32.85 per cent) and Vi with 227.53 million users (19.78 per cent). Jio and Airtel showed a positive growth in their wireless subscriber base, with net additions of 10.63 million and 4.06 million respectively. Meanwhile, Vi and BSNL witnessed a decline of 2.12 million and 5.95 million subscribers respectively.

Mobile ARPUs and usage

The monthly all-India blended average revenue per user (ARPU) for GSM and LTE services increased by 2.76 per cent from Rs 145.64 in the quarter ended June 2023 to Rs 149.66 in the quarter ended September 2023. Prepaid ARPUs increased from Rs 143.81 to Rs 148 while post-paid ARPUs increased from Rs 166.22 to Rs 167.93.

The overall monthly minutes of usage (MoUs) per subscriber per month decreased from 960 minutes to 948 minutes during the period. The ratio of incoming and outgoing MoUs stood at 50:50 during the quarter ended September 2023. Meanwhile, the average number of outgoing SMSs per subscriber per month stood at 12.

Quality of service

During July-September 2023, the quality of service (QoS) performance of wireless service providers improved in terms of the worst-affected BSs due to downtime, which is less than 2 per cent; accessibility to call centres/customer care; and percentage of calls answered by operators (voice to voice) within 90 seconds.

Further, the QoS performance of wireline service providers showed an improvement in terms of accessibility to call centres/customer care, percentage of calls answered by operators (voice to voice) within 90 seconds, and time taken for 100 per cent refund of deposits after closure within 60 days. However, the performance deteriorated, with faults being addressed by the next working day, particularly in urban areas.

Internet and broadband

As per reports received from operators, the total number of internet subscribers increased from 895.83 million at the end of June 2023 to 918.19 million at the end of September 2023, with a quarterly growth rate of 2.49 per cent. Out of the total 918.19 million internet subscribers, 885 million were broadband subscribers and 33.19 million were narrowband subscribers.

Reliance Jio led the internet market with 458.96 million subscribers as of end September 2023, followed by Airtel (276.88 million) and Vi (136.17 million). The top 10 internet service providers together accounted for 98.93 per cent of the subscriber base. The top five circles in terms of internet subscriptions (wired and wireless) were Maharashtra (78.36 million), Uttar Pradesh East (73.59 million), Bihar (69.84), Andhra Pradesh including Telangana (68.38 million) and Madhya Pradesh (62.85 million).

As of end September 2023, there were 885 million broadband subscribers and 33.19 million narrowband subscribers. Wireless (dongle and phone) was the most preferred technology for providing broadband services and it constituted 95.73 per cent of the total broadband subscriber base. The top five circles in terms of broadband subscriptions were Maharashtra (76.45 million), Uttar Pradesh East (70.82 million), Bihar (67.48 million), Andhra Pradesh (including Telangana) (66.16 million) and Madhya Pradesh (61.43 million).

Wireless data usage

The total wireless data usage increased from 44,967 petabytes (PB) during the quarter ended June 2023 to 47,629 PB during the quarter ended September 2023. Of the total data wireless usage, 2G data usage stood at 51 PB, 3G at 341 PB and 4G data usage at 43,355 PB. The share of 3G, 4G and 5G in the total volume of wireless data usage was about 0.72 per cent, 91.03 per cent and 8.15 per cent respectively during the quarter ended September 2023.

Financial performance

During the quarter ended September 2023, the sector’s gross revenue and adjusted gross revenue (AGR) stood at Rs 827.41 billion and Rs 665.83 billion respectively. The gross revenue increased by 2.28 per cent as compared to the previous quarter, while the AGR grew by 1.46 per cent. On a year-on-year basis, the gross revenue declined by 1.22 per cent while the AGR increased by 7.42 per cent.

Niha