Telcos’ Q1 AGR up 18% to ₹60,530 cr; Jio contributes max ₹21,516 cr

The telecom service providers recorded a 17.91% year-on-year rise in gross revenue and adjusted gross revenue (AGR) at ₹76,408 crore and ₹60,530 crore, respectively, in the April-June quarter, according to the performance indicator report for the quarter ended June 2022 released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). During the same period last year, the telcos' AGR stood at ₹51,335 crore, while it was₹58,886 crore in the Jan-March quarter.

The AGR is a use and licence fee the government changes and is divided into spectrum usage charges and licencing fees. The Trai data shows the telcos’ gross revenue declined by 0.01% and AGR increased by 2.79% on a quarter-on-quarter basis.

Telcos' pass-through charges (PTC) decreased by 1.12% QoQ and 0.38% YoY to ₹13,415 crore in Q1 FY23. The pass-through charges as a percentage of gross revenue stood at 17.56% in Q1 FY23 against 17.75% in the previous quarter.

The license fee increased from ₹4,712 crore as of Jan-March 2022 to ₹4,844 crore as of April-June 2022. The license fee QoQ and YoY growth rate was 2.79% and 18.05%, respectively.

Access services contributed 80.95% of the total adjusted gross revenue of telecom services. Reliance Jio contributed a maximum ₹21,515.88 crore, up 20.58% YoY to AGR, followed by Bharti Airtel at ₹17,140.56 crore, up 25.15% YoY. Vodafone Idea contributed 17.93% YoY growth at AGR of ₹7,356.54 crore in Q1. State-owned BSNL's AGR rose 2.60% to ₹2,177.95 crore during the period.

The Trai report, 'The Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicators April-June, 2022', shows telephone subscribers in India rose from 1,166.93 million as of Jan-March 2022 to 1,172.96 million as of April-June 2022, up 0.52% QoQ and down 2.46% YoY.

The overall teledensity in India increased from 84.88% as of Jan-March 2022 to 85.13% as of April-June 2022. Telephone subscribers in urban areas increased from 647.11 million as of Jan-March 2022 to 649.09 million as of April-June 2022, though urban teledensity dipped from 134.94% to 134.72% as of June 2022. Rural telecom users rose from 519.82 million as of March 2022 to 523.27 million as of June 2022, while rural teledensity increased from 58.07% to 58.46% during the same period.

With a net increase of 5.30 million subscribers during the quarter, the total wireless subscriber base increased from 1,142.09 million at the end of March 2022 to 1,147.39 million at the end of June 2022, a growth rate of 0.46% over the previous quarter. On YoY, the wireless subscriptions decreased by 2.83% as of June 2022.

The monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) for wireless service increased by 5.02%, from ₹127.17 in Jan-March 2022 to ₹133.55 in April-Jun 2022. On a YoY basis, the monthly ARPU increased by 27.61%.

The total number of internet subscribers increased from 824.89 million as of March 2022 to 836.86 million as of June 2022, a growth rate of 1.45% QoQ. Of 836.86 million internet subscribers, the number of wired internet subscribers is 28.73 million while wireless internet subscribers stand at 808.13 million.