Adjusted Gross Revenue of telcos declines 4.56% Q-o-Q in July-September

The adjusted gross revenue (AGR) of the telecom industry declined 4.56% quarter-on-quarter to Rs 37,338 crore in the July-September period, with all the mobile operators, barring Reliance Jio, witnessing a decline in revenues, data shared by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India showed. The preceding quarter had seen a growth of 8.88%. That the quarter is considered to be seasonally weak could be the reason behind the decline in AGR, telecom analysts said. On a year-on-year basis though, the AGR during the quarter rose 3.31%.

The maximum decline in AGR was witnessed by state-run BSNL, which reported a 30.27% sequential drop in AGR to Rs 1811.96 crore. Vodafone Idea’s access services AGR declined 6.86% to Rs 6,260.22 crore whereas Bharti Airtel’s AGR fell 2.32% to Rs 7,295.03 crore on a sequential basis. However, Reliance Jio continued to increase its AGR during the quarter with a 6.75% sequential growth at Rs 11,528.95 crore.

Because of the decline in AGR, the licence fee and spectrum usage charges (SUC) also declined sequentially. Licence fee for the July-September quarter stood at Rs 2,989 crore while SUC was at Rs 1,115 crore. The monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) for access services declined to Rs 78.17, compared with Rs 80.66 in the previous quarter.