The adjusted gross revenue (AGR) of telecom operators has risen 23.3% sequentially to Rs 69,994.43 crore in the July-September quarter, according to data by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).
However, the spectrum usage charges (SUC) paid by the telcos to the government fell 30% quarter-on-quarter to Rs 1,398.10 crore, following the removal of such charges for the future spectrum acquisitions including 5G auctions.
The increase in the AGR during the quarter can be attributed to the increase in the data consumption on the telecom network and residual impact of the tariff hikes taken by the telcos in November 2021. The calculations include the revenue generated by telecom operators by providing local calls and data services, international long-distance, and national long-distance services.
AGR is the revenue based on which the telcos pay license fee and spectrum usage charges (SUC) to the government. Telcos pay 8% of their AGR as license fee and have been paying 3-5% as SUC to the government. The government in June last year had scrapped the SUC for telcos.
In the July-September quarter, Bharti Airtel
Reliance Jio’s AGR rose 3.14% quarter-on-quarter to Rs 22,192.19 crore, whereas AGR of Vodafone Idea
Owing to increase in AGR, the license fee paid by the telecom operators to the government rose 2.5% quarter-on-quarter to Rs 4,658.71 crore in July-September quarter.
During the quarter, the monthly average revenue per user from wireless services rose 2.8% quarter-on-quarter to Rs 137.31. The average wireless data consumption rose 4.75% to 17.18 GB per user per month. The minutes of usage per subscriber per month fell 2.2% to 894 minutes in the July-September quarter.