According to recent data by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), telecom operators recorded 12.27 per cent rise in their total revenue at Rs 715.88 billion in the quarter ended (QE) December 31, 2020 on a year-on-year (YoY) basis. The gross revenue of the telcos was Rs 637.64 billion in the same quarter a year ago.
Further, the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) of the service providers, on which the government levies licence fees and other charges, also increased by 16.5 per cent on YoY basis to Rs 476.23 billion during the quarter from Rs 408.77 billion in the corresponding period of 2019-20. The licence fee collection of the government increased by 16.49 per cent to Rs 38.09 billion from Rs 32.70 billion on a YoY basis. According to the data, the spectrum usage charge (SUC) levied on the basis of AGR and spectrum holding of the companies also increased by 22.22 per cent to Rs 15.38 billion during the quarter from Rs 12.56 billion government earned in October-December 2019.
According to TRAI, the sector recorded a near 4.2 per cent sequential growth in adjusted gross revenue (AGR) to Rs 476.23 billion in the fiscal third quarter (Q3), FY21. Further, the regulator added that Reliance Jio’s revenue from licensed services, climbed 7.96 per cent on-quarter to Rs 171.81 billion in the October-December 2020 period while Bharti Airtel’s grew 5.34 per cent sequentially to Rs 113.40 billion. Further, Vodafone Idea’s quarterly AGR also rose 2.37 per cent on-quarter to Rs 65.88 billion.
Further, the data added that the overall sectoral minutes of consumption rose, with the all-India average minutes of usage (MoU) per subscriber per month from wireless services gaining 3.14 per cent per cent sequentially to 785 in the quarter ended December 2020. Access services contributed 80 per cent of total telecom services AGR in the Q3, FY21. Meanwhile, the report indicated that monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) from wireless services rose 4.93 per cent on-quarter to Rs 101.65.
