Telecom industry sees growth in AGR led by Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio
telecom industry recorded a 1.88% sequential growth in adjusted gross revenue (AGR) to Rs 67,835 crore in the October-December quarter, led by growth of Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio, which expanded their 5G services.
State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) also saw its AGR for mobile services rise but cash-strapped Vodafone Idea continued to witness a decline.
As per data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Tuesday, of the total AGR of the telecom industry, access or mobile services contributed 82.07% at Rs 55,669.76 crore while NLD (national long distance) AGR stood at 6,523.30 crore and ISP (internet service provider) AGR at Rs 3,881.79 crore.
In terms of mobile services, Bharti Airtel’s quarterly AGR, or revenue from licensed services, increased 3.22% sequentially to Rs 20,480.58 crore in the October-December quarter while Jio saw an increase of 2.67% to Rs 24,862.85 crore.
However, Vodafone Idea, which has just concluded an Rs 18,000-crore follow-on public offer, saw its AGR decline by 0.65% to 7,459.08 crore. Interestingly, BSNL’s AGR for access services rose by 2.31% to Rs 2,011.84 crore for the reported period. The state-run company is in the process of rolling out 4G services through a locally developed telecom stack by TCS.
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 rose 2.01% sequentially to Rs 5,433 crore while SUC collections increased 1.06%
