According to the performance indicator report released by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), there has been a 1.7 per cent sequential growth in adjusted gross revenue (AGR) in the fourth quarter (Q4) (January to March) of 2024-25, as the effects of the previous year’s tariff hikes began to taper off. However, Vodafone Idea Limited (Vi) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) recorded a decline in their mobile service revenues during the same period.
As per the data, the industry’s AGR for Q4 stood at Rs 792.26 billion, marginally up from Rs 779.34 billion in the preceding quarter. Mobile or access services contributed 84.02 per cent of the total AGR, with the remainder coming from national long distance (NLD), international long distance (ILD), internet service providers (ISPs), and other services.
In access services, Reliance Jio further widened its lead over Bharti Airtel. Jio’s AGR rose by 3.23 per cent to Rs 294.64 billion in Q4, up from Rs 285.42 billion in Q3 2024-25. Airtel reported a more modest AGR growth of about 1 per cent, reaching Rs 263.24 billion. This comes after a brief narrowing of the revenue gap between the telcos in the previous quarter.
In contrast, Vi’s AGR declined 3.83 per cent in Q4 2024-25 to Rs 76.53 billion from Rs 79.58 billion in Q3 2024-25. BSNL also saw a 2.31 per cent fall in its AGR to Rs 22.39 billion, down from Rs 22.92 billion in the previous quarter.
The report highlighted that the growth in AGR led to higher collections for the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in terms of license fees and spectrum usage charges (SUC). License fee collections rose 1.69 per cent sequentially to Rs 63.40 billion, while SUC revenue grew 1.15 per cent on-quarter to Rs 10 billion. Telcos pay 8 per cent of AGR as license fees. SUC payments range between 1 per cent and 3 per cent, with spectrum acquired from the first 5G auction onwards exempt from SUC.
Meanwhile, sector-wide, total minutes of usage (MoU) increased, with the all-India average MoU per wireless subscriber per month rising 1.64 per cent sequentially to 1,026 minutes in Q4 2024-25. In addition, the report showed that the average revenue per user (ARPU) from wireless services increased 0.64 per cent sequentially to Rs 182.95 during the reported quarter.
Further, the report noted that the country’s internet user base contracted slightly in Q4 2024-25. Total internet subscribers fell 0.11 per cent to 969.10 million. The broadband user base declined 0.09 per cent to 944.12 million, while narrowband subscribers dropped to 24.98 million from 25.20 million in the previous quarter.
