Telecom licence fee collection up 8.23% at Rs 5,326 cr in quarter ended Sep

The government's licence fee collection from telecom service providers increased 8.23 per cent year-on-year to Rs 5,326 crore, while spectrum usage charge mop up declined about 40 per cent to Rs 836 crore in the September 2023 quarter, according to the latest Trai report.

According to the performance indicator report released by regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), operators' gross revenue (GR) declined by 1.22 per cent to Rs 82,741 crore, but adjusted gross revenue (AGR) increased by 7.43 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 66,583 crore during the reported quarter.

"On a YoY basis, GR decreased by 1.22 per cent, ApGR (applicable gross revenue) increased by 6.74 per cent, and AGR increased by 7.43 per cent in the quarter ended September 2023," the report released on Friday said.

Reliance Jio recorded the highest AGR of Rs 24,217.13 crore with a 9.12 per cent year-on-year rise.

Bharti Airtel posted the highest AGR growth rate of 10.88 per cent at Rs 19,840.84 crore during the quarter.

The AGR of debt-ridden Vodafone Idea remained almost flat at Rs 7,507.65 crore during the reported quarter.

State-owned BSNL's AGR grew 1.93 per cent to Rs 1,966.44 crore, while MTNL's AGR declined 16.35 per cent on a year-on-year basis to Rs 168.69 crore.

The government calculates its share of revenue from the telecom sector in the form of licence fees and spectrum usage charges (SUC).

Access service providers or mobile operators like Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea accounted for 81.67 per cent of the total AGR.

"The License Fee (LF) increased from Rs 5,246 crore for the QE (quarter ended) June 2023 to Rs 5,326 crore for the QE September 2023. The quarterly and the Y-O-Y rates of growth in license fees are 1.53 and 8.23 per cent, respectively, in this quarter," the report said.

Mobile operators paid Rs 4,350.67 crore as license fees and Rs 831.49 as SUC.

As part of telecom reforms, the government has removed SUC on all spectrum procured through auctions conducted after September 15, 2021.

The total SUC declined to Rs 836 crore in the September 2023 quarter from Rs 1,403 crore a year ago.