Telcos gross revenue down 7% to Rs 66,361 cr in July-Sept y-o-y

The gross revenue of all telecom service providers fell by around 7 per cent to Rs 66,361 crore in July-September 2017 from Rs 71,378.69 crore in the same period a year ago, as per a Trai report released on Thursday.

The adjusted gross revenue (AGR), on which telecom operators pay licence fees and other charges, reduced by 17.55 per cent to Rs 41,668.84 crore in the reported period compared to Rs 50,539.2 crore in the September quarter of 2016, the regulator's performance indicator report said.

On a quarterly basis, however, the gross revenue of telcos saw a rise in the July-September period. The gross revenue posted by telecom firms stood at Rs 64,889.47 crore in the April-June quarter.

The three-month period ended September 30, 2017, was the second quarter in a row for the telecom service providers (TSPs) when they posted increase in the gross revenue.

"GR increased by 2.27 per cent and AGR declined by 4.75 per cent in the quarter ended September 2017 as compared to previous quarter," the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) report said.

The AGR of access service provider like mobile phones service providers recorded 23.3 per cent decline at Rs 31,968.03 crore compared to the revenue in the same period a year ago. The revenue, however, increased by 6.27 per cent compared to Rs 30,082.33 crore registered in the previous quarter.

The average revenue per user of TSPs also improved by 5.61 per cent to Rs 88.09 during the reported period compared to Rs 83.41 recorded in the April-June 2017 quarter.

Telecom subscribers base declined to 120.67 crores in the reported quarter from 121 crores at the end of June quarter but registered an increase of 12.33 per cent over the same quarter last year, as per the report.