Telcos' gross revenues dip 1.36% in Jul-Sep 2021 to Rs 67k cr, AGR up 17%

Telecom service providers' gross revenue declined by 1.36 per cent on a year-on-year basis to Rs 67,300 crore in the July-September 2021 quarter, according to a Trai report released on Monday.

Telecom service providers (TSPs) had posted gross revenue of Rs 68,228 crore in the same quarter a year ago, according to the Trai's performance indicator report for the July-September 2021 quarter.

The adjusted gross revenue (AGR) component of the telecom operators, on which the government levies charges, increased by 17.07 per cent to Rs 53,510 crore during the reported quarter from Rs 45,707 crore in the corresponding period of 2020.

Access service providers like Bharti Airtel, Jio and Vodafone Idea who provide services to end consumers accounted for 78 per cent of gross revenue and 79 per cent of AGR.

Reliance Jio reported highest AGR of Rs 18,467.47 crore during the reported quarter. It was followed by Bharti Airtel (Rs 14,730.85 crore), Vodafone Idea (Rs 6,337.58 crore), BSNL (Rs 1,934.73 crore), Tata Teleservices (Rs 554.33 crore), MTNL (Rs 331.56 crore) and Reliance Communications (Rs 53.4 crore).

Government's revenue from telecom services in the form of licence fees and spectrum usage charges (SUC) increased by 16.8 per cent and 19.99 per cent respectively on an annual basis.

Government revenue collection in the form of licence fee was Rs 4,271 crore and SUC was Rs 1,741 crore during July-September 2021, compared to Rs 3,656 crore and Rs 1,451 crore in the corresponding quarter of 2020, as per the report.