Airtel & Jio’s 5G Surge Drives Telecom Revenue Up 3.87% in FY24 Last Quarter; BSNL, Vodafone Idea Lag Behind

New Delhi: The telecom industry saw a 3.87% increase in adjusted gross revenue (AGR) in the last quarter of FY24, reaching ₹70,462 crore, thanks to growth by Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio. However, Vodafone Idea and state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) continued to see a decline in their mobile services revenue.

Airtel and Reliance Jio have nearly finished rolling out 5G services, while Vodafone Idea is expected to launch 5G soon. Analysts predict further revenue growth as private telecom operators have raised prices by 11-25%.

Quarterly Performance:

According to the latest data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), Airtel’s AGR for mobile services increased by 2.30% to ₹20,951.91 crore in the January-March period. Jio’s AGR also rose by 1.88% to ₹25,330.97 crore. In contrast, Vodafone Idea’s AGR fell by 1.18% to ₹7,370.75 crore, and BSNL’s AGR dropped by 1.01% to ₹1,991.61 crore. Interestingly, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) saw a 10.28% increase in AGR to ₹156.61 crore from ₹142 crore in the previous quarter, though this is a small amount.

Sector Breakdown:

The data shows that mobile services (access services) made up 80.24% of the total AGR at ₹56,539.81 crore. National long-distance (NLD) services contributed ₹7,096.44 crore, and internet service providers (ISP) added ₹4,870.94 crore.

Government Revenue:

Higher AGR led to increased licence fee and spectrum usage charge (SUC) collections for the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). The licence fee collection rose by 3.76% to ₹5,637 crore, and SUC collections increased by 2.85% to ₹869 crore. Telcos pay 8% of their AGR as licence fees, and around 0.5% of AGR as SUC after the government decided that new airwaves from the last 5G auction won’t attract any SUC.

Subscriber Data:

The total number of broadband subscribers (both wireline and wireless) grew by 2.16% to 924.07 million by the end of March. The average revenue per user (ARPU) for wireless services was ₹153.54 at the end of March, up from ₹152.55 in the December quarter.

Overall usage increased, with the average minutes of usage (MoU) per subscriber per month rising by 4.21% to 995 in the March quarter.

The total number of telephone subscribers in India increased to 1,199.28 million by the end of March 2024 from 1,190.33 million at the end of December, a growth rate of 0.75% over the previous quarter. The total wireless subscriber base rose to 1,165.49 million by the end of March, with wireless tele-density at 83.27%.

In summary, Airtel and Jio’s growth has positively impacted the telecom sector’s revenue, while Vodafone Idea and BSNL continue to struggle. The industry shows promise with rising subscribers and usage.