The adjusted gross revenue (AGR) of the telecom industry rose 2.03% sequentially to Rs 48,587 crore during January-March, primarily on the back of increased mobile revenues of Bharti Airtel. Barring Bharti, the access services or mobile services AGR for telcos like Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea and BSNL declined during the period.
The AGR of the telecom industry in the preceding October-December 2020 period stood at Rs 47,623 crore.
The rise in AGR was slightly higher on a year-on-year basis, with a jump of 8.12%. The AGR of the telecom industry stood at Rs 44,940 crore in the January-March 2020 period.
As per data shared by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, during January-March 2021, AGR for access services declined sequentially for all operators, barring Bharti Airtel. The access services AGR for Reliance Jio declined 4.42% to Rs 16,422.83 crore from Rs 17,181.65 crore in October-December 2020. Bharti Airtel’s access services AGR rose 15.07% to Rs 13,049.44 crore from Rs 11,340.19 crore in the preceding quarter, while that of Vodafone Idea declined 6.62% to Rs 6152.25 crore from Rs 6,588.46 crore in the previous quarter. BSNL witnessed a decline of 6.92% in its access services AGR to Rs 1,987.31 crore from Rs 2,135.17 crore in preceding quarter.
Despite the decline, Reliance Jio was the top mobile operator in terms of revenue and subscribers, followed by Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and BSNL.
Meanwhile, licence fee receipts rose 4.44% sequentially to Rs 3,979 crore as compared to Rs 3,809 crore in the preceding quarter, while spectrum usage charges increased marginally to Rs 1,540 crore from Rs 1,538 crore in the preceding quarter.
The monthly average revenue per user for mobile services increased to Rs 103.58 per month for the March 2021 quarter as compared to Rs 101.65 per month in the December quarter.