TRAI: Telcos' AGR up by over 4% in FY 20-21 Q3 in New Data

New data released by TRAI on Tuesday showed the telcos registering a sequential growth in AGR. The sector as a whole noted around 4.2 % growth in Q3, FY21. Incidentally, this results from strong customer gains, and growth in recharge volumes and data use.

Promising Signs for Telecom in TRAI Data

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) reported the Big 3 telcos – Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea – registered AGR growth in Q3.

Notably, access services contributed 80% of total telecom services AGR in the fiscal third quarter, FY21.

Leading the pack was Reliance Jio. Their AGR increased by 7.96% on-quarter to Rs 17,181.65 crore during the Q3. Bharti Airtel followed closely, growing by 5.34% to Rs 11,340.19 crore. Vodafone Idea also noted a quarterly AGR growth of 2.37% to Rs 6,588.46 crore. All in all, the overall telecom industry AGR rose by 4.19% to Rs 47,623 crore in Q3.

The sector also registered a rise in minutes used by users. Notably, all-India average MoU/subscriber/month rose to 785 in Q3, noting a 3.14% growth on-quarter.

Interestingly, this all fares well for the authorities as well. Since telcos pay 8% of their AGR annually to TRAI as license fees. Furthermore, the telcos also pay 3-5% of AGR towards Spectrum Usage Charge to DoT.

This translates to a licence fee rising to Rs. 3,809 crore, up by 4.19% sequentially. At the same time, DoT's SUC collections rose nearly 6% on-quarter to Rs 1,538 crore.

The telecom sector also registered a growth in the ARPU, or average revenue per user. It is a vital metric which reflects the overall health of the sector. TRAI reported a growth of 4.93%, with ARPU rising to Rs. 101.65. This growth was attributed to an increase in overall mobile recharges volume increasing and migrants returning to work in the cities.