The total revenue of telecom companies grew 10.5 percent year-on-year to Rs 91,426 crore in the quarter ended September 2024. This is the period when mobile service providers raised tariff rates. This has been said in a report by telecom regulator TRAI. According to the quarterly report of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) indicating the performance of the companies, the adjusted gross revenue grew 13.11 percent to Rs 75,310 crore. It was Rs 66,583 crore in the same quarter a year ago.

Rates were increased by 11 to 25%

The government calculates its charges on adjusted gross revenue. Private sector telecom companies Airtel, Jio and Vodafone Idea have increased the rates of their mobile services by 11-25 percent. After the rate hike, the companies have registered an increase in average earnings per user (ARPU). However, the companies also lost customers due to this. According to the report, monthly ARPU for mobile services increased by 9.60 percent to Rs 172.57 in the September quarter, from Rs 157.45 in the June quarter.

Number of mobile subscribers decreased

The ARPU for pre-paid connections stood at Rs 171 in the September quarter and Rs 190.67 in the post-paid segment. The number of mobile subscribers declined by 1.68 crore quarter-on-quarter to 115.37 crore in July-September, 2024 from 117 crore in the June quarter. Bharti Airtel's adjusted gross revenue (AGR) during the September quarter grew 24.15 per cent year-on-year to Rs 24,632.84 crore. While Reliance Jio's AGR grew 14.19 per cent to Rs 27,652.68 crore. Vodafone Idea's AGR grew 4.39 per cent to Rs 7,836.98 crore and BSNL's grew 1.54 per cent to Rs 1,996.77 crore.

MTNL's revenue decreased

Revenue of state-owned and debt-ridden MTNL declined 9.41 per cent to Rs 152.81 crore during the quarter from Rs 168.69 crore a year ago. Government collections as licence fee during the September quarter rose 13.09 per cent to Rs 6,023 crore from Rs 5,326 crore a year ago. Spectrum usage charges collected by the government rose 13.07 per cent year-on-year to Rs 946 crore from Rs 836 crore in the same period a year ago.