The Indian government collected a total of Rs 4,541 crore as license fee (LF) from the telecom service providers (TSPs) in Q3 FY22, said the quarterly performance report published by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Thursday. This was 19.21% more than Rs 3,809 crore in LFs’ during the same quarter in the previous year. More LFs came to the government because of the higher AGR (adjusted gross revenue). The AGR for TSPs’ rose to Rs 55,151 crore, which was 15.81% higher than Rs 47,623 crore in the same quarter preceding year. Note that even though AGR went up during the quarter, the gross revenue went from Rs 71,588 crore in December 2020 quarter to Rs 69,695 crore in December 2021 quarter.
Reliance Jio Had the Highest AGR, Followed by Airtel, Vi, and BSNL
Out of all the TSPs’, Reliance Jio recorded the highest AGR of Rs 19,063.75 crore during the quarter. Jio was followed by Airtel with an AGR of Rs 4,484.48 crore, Vodafone Idea (Vi) with an AGR of Rs 6,541.83 crore, and BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited) with an AGR of Rs 1,984.94 crore. Tata Teleservices, MTNL (Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited), Reliance Communications, and Quadrant’s AGR figures came at Rs 530.21 crore, Rs 254.78 crore, Rs 61.69 crore, and Rs 13.22 crore. The good thing for the telecom sector was the rise in average revenue per user (ARPU) figure from the prepaid segment. Both Vi and Airtel had removed the Rs 49 base plan, and the users had no other option but to go with the Rs 79 plan until December, when prepaid tariff hikes were announced by all the private operators. This has certainly helped the sector in gaining ARPU. However, the full effects of ARPU growth will be visible in the last quarter of FY22. The ARPU from wireless services increased by 5.55% to Rs 114.16 during December 2021 quarter as compared to Rs 108.16 in September 2021 quarter.
