Telecom industry sees growth in AGR led by Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio

In the October-December quarter, the telecom industry witnessed a sequential growth of 1.88% in adjusted gross revenue (AGR), totalling US$ 8.14 billion (Rs. 67,835 crore). This growth was primarily driven by Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio, which expanded their 5G services. State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) also experienced a rise in AGR for mobile services, while financially strained Vodafone Idea continued to face a decline.

According to data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), mobile services contributed 82.07% of the total AGR, amounting to US$ 6.68 billion (Rs. 55,669.76 crore), with national long-distance (NLD) and internet service provider (ISP) AGR standing at US$ 783 million (Rs. 6,523.30 crore) and US$ 465.9 million (Rs. 3,881.79 crore), respectively. Bharti Airtel's quarterly AGR for licensed services increased by 3.22% to US$ 2.46 billion (Rs. 20,480.58 crore), while Jio witnessed a 2.67% rise to US$ 2.98 billion (Rs. 24,862.85 crore). Conversely, Vodafone Idea's AGR decreased by 0.65% to US$ 895.3 million (Rs. 7,459.08 crore) despite its recent US$ 2.16 billion (Rs. 18,000 crore) follow-on public offer. BSNL's AGR for access services grew by 2.31% to US$ 241.5 billion (Rs. 2,011.84 crore). The state-run company is rolling out 4G services using a domestically developed telecom stack by TCS. Higher quarterly AGR led to increased collections in license fees and spectrum usage charges (SUC) for the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), rising by 2.01% to US$ 652.1 million (Rs. 5,433 crore) and 1.06% to US$ 101.4 million (Rs. 845 crore), respectively, quarter-on-quarter, as per regulator data.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.