Telcos gross revenue rises 5.8%, govt spectrum usage charge declines 59%

The govt, as part of telecom reforms 2021, has announced to charge no SUC on spectrum that will be auctioned in future

Telecom service providers gross revenue increased by 5.88 per cent on a year-on-year basis to Rs 80,899 crore during the quarter ended June 2023, sector regulator Trai said on Tuesday.

According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) Performance Indicator Report, the gross revenue declined 5.22 per cent on a quarterly basis from Rs 85,356 crore registered in March 2023 quarter.

The applicable gross revenue (ApGR) and adjusted gross revenue (AGR), on which government share of revenue is calculated, increased by 6.17 per cent and 8.42 per cent to Rs 78,349 crore and Rs 65,354 crore, respectively, according to the report.

Gross Revenue (GR) decreased by 5.22 per cent, Applicable Gross Revenue (ApGR) fell by 0.36 per cent and Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) increased by 1.75 per cent during the quarter ended June 2023. On YoY basis, GR increased by 5.88 per cent, ApGR rose by 6.17 per cent and AGR increased by 8.42 per cent in the quarter ended June 2023, the report said.

The licence fee collection of the government increased by 8.3 per cent to Rs 5,246 crore while spectrum usage charge (SUC) declined by over 59 per cent to Rs 818 crore during the reported quarter.

The government, as part of telecom reforms 2021, has announced to charge no SUC on spectrum that will be auctioned in future.

Access services providers like Jio, Airtel, Vodafone Idea (VIL), etc contributed 80.52 per cent of the total AGR of telecom services.

Reliance Jio's AGR increased by 9.02 per cent to Rs 23,457.11 crore, Bharti Airtel's AGR rose 12.34 per cent to Rs 19,256 crore, VIL's AGR declined by 1.21 per cent to Rs 7,267.76 crore, BSNL's AGR fell by 5.88 per cent to Rs 2,049.95 crore, MTNL by 33.17 per cent to Rs 142.79 crore and Tata's AGR rose by 12.36 per cent to Rs 598.91 crore, according to the report.