According to ICRA Limited (ICRA), the telecom services industry is predicted to achieve moderate revenue growth of roughly 7-9 per cent in FY2024 over FY2023, due to muted average revenue per person (ARPU) expansion in the absence of tariff hikes.
As telecom operators increase 5G coverage, their capital expenditure (capex) levels will remain higher, keeping the industry’s debt levels high at roughly Rs 6.1-6.2 trillion in March 2024, and it is anticipated that industry ARPU will rise to Rs 182-185 in FY2024, up from Rs 175 in FY2023.
Further, ICRA foresees industry capex being at around Rs 700 billion during FY2024 within an overall spend of around Rs 3 trillion during the next four-five years.
As per ICRA, future development is projected to be supported by rising diversification through higher revenue shares from enterprise businesses, digital services, fixed broadband services, cloud services, data centres, etc.
