Government revenue from licensing fees also increased by 22.34% to Rs 3,656 crore during the July-September 2020 period.
Telecom operators recorded a 13.73% increase in gross revenue to Rs 68,228 crore on an annual basis in the quarter ended September 30, 2020, according to a report released by regulator Trai on Thursday.
The gross revenue of telecommunications service providers (TSPs) was Rs 59,992 crore in the same quarter a year ago.
Adjusted Gross Income (AGR), from which the government derives its revenue share, rose by 22.41% to Rs 45,707 crore in the September quarter from Rs 37,338 crore a year ago, according to Trai’s performance indicators report.
The AGR of mobile and landline service providers to retail consumers such as Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and BSNL increased by 30.07% to Rs 36,318 crore in the quarter under review. It was at Rs 27,921 crore a year ago.
Government revenue from licensing fees also increased by 22.34% to Rs 3,656 crore during the July-September 2020 period.
“Licensing fees increased from Rs 3,526 crore for the quarter ended June 2020 to Rs 3,656 crore for the quarter ended September 2020. Quarterly and annual license fee growth rates are 3.70% and 22.34%, respectively during this quarter,” the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said in the report.
The average quarterly revenue per user of telecom operators increased by 32.89% to reach 103.87 rupees during the period July-September 2020.
The total telecom subscriber base in the country during the quarter was 116.86 crores. It was dominated by a mobile subscriber base of 114.85 crore.
“Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd is the market leader with 34.76% in the access segment in terms of number of subscribers with 406.21 million subscribers at the end of September 20, followed by Bharti Airtel Ltd with 331 .03 million subscribers,” the report said.
However, Bharti Airtel during the quarter led the market in terms of highest subscriber net addition.
“Bharti Airtel Ltd became the biggest gainer with a net addition of 10.08 million telephone subscribers in the quarter ended September 2020,” the report said.
The total number of internet subscribers in the country increased from 74.90 crore at the end of June 2020 to 77.64 crore at the end of September 2020. The internet subscriber base included 72.63 crore broadband subscribers, according to the report.
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