According to the latest quarterly performance indicator report released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) for the telecom sector rose by 6.75 per cent to Rs 753.1 billion in the quarter ended (QE) September 2024 with a 13.11 per cent year-on-year (YoY) growth. This was because of the tariff hikes and strong growth in data usage even though subscriber additions remained subdued.
The report noted that higher quarterly AGR translated into higher licence fee and spectrum usage charge (SUC) collections for the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). The licence fee mop-up climbed 6.69 per cent sequentially to Rs 60.23 billion.
Meanwhile, overall sectoral minutes of consumption remained unchanged as compared to the first quarter (Q1) 2024-25. The all-India average minutes of usage (MoU) per subscriber per month from wireless services stood at 974 in Q2 2024-25.
The report highlighted that monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) from wireless services rose 9.60 per cent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 172.57. The growth was 15.31 per cent YoY.
In addition, data collated by the regulator showed the country’s internet user base rose by a modest 0.20 per cent sequentially to 971.50 million in Q1 2024-25. Of this, the broadband internet user base was at 944.39 million while the balance 27.11 million made up the narrowband internet user base.
Further, access services contributed 83.69 per cent of total telecom services AGR in Q1 2024-25.
