Telecos' revenue dip 8.6% to Rs 2.55 tn; licence fee, SUC plunge too

The telecom sector's gross revenue fell by 8.56 per cent to Rs 2.55 trillion in 2017, resulting in a notable decline in government collections in form of licence fee and spectrum usage charges, showed data released by Trai today.

The gross revenue for the sector stood at Rs 2.79 trillion in 2016.

Total collections for the government from licence fee came down by 18.78 per cent in 2017, while revenue from spectrum usage charges plunged by 32.81 per cent.

The report, however, revealed that there was a decline in telcos' revenue despite increase in subscriber base.

"The number of telephone subscribers in India increased from 1,151.78 million at the end of December 2016 to 1,190.67 million at the end of December 2017, registering a yearly growth rate of 3.38 per cent," the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said in its report.

The adjusted gross revenue (AGR), earned by service providers from sale of telecom services, declined by 18.87 per cent to Rs 1.6 trillion at the end of 2017 from Rs 1.98 trillion at the end of 2016, as per data published by Trai in its annual performance indicator report.