Indian telecom operators’ average gross revenue (AGR) fell 5.33 percent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 50,539 crore in the September quarter of 2016, TRAI revealed.
Reliance Jio started telecom operations in September 2016, offering free data and voice offers to its customers. Jio has added 16 million 4G subscribers in September. Jio is aiming for 100 million 4G user base before March 2017.
Gross revenue (GR) of Indian telecoms during the third quarter was Rs 71,379 crore, dropping 2.68 percent over the previous quarter.
The quarterly decline in Indian telecom operators’ AGR is significant because the AGR had increased 10.34 percent in the June quarter of 2016 to Rs 53,383 crore.
Average revenue and average gross revenue on year-on-year basis rose 9.82 percent and 9.26 percent, respectively.
Monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) for access services was Rs 131.
India telecom industry performance
Indian operators added 14.63 million subscribers during the quarter. Wireless subscriber base rose from 1,035.12 million in June 2016 to 1,049.74 million in September 2016, registering 1.41 percent growth. The year-on-year growth rate of wireless subscribers was 5.33 percent.
Wireless Tele-density increased from 81.26 in June 2016 to 82.17 in September 2016.
Wireline subscriber base declined from 25.74 million in June 2016 to 24.49 million in September 2016, registering a quarterly decline rate of 1.01 percent. Wireline Teledensity declined from 1.94 in June 2016 to 1.92 in September 2016.
Internet subscribers have increased from 350.48 million in June 2016 to 367.48 million in September 2016, registering a quarterly growth rate of 4.85 percent. India has a wired Internet subscriber base of 21.26 million and wireless Internet subscribers of 346.22 million.
India has a broadband Internet subscriber base of 192.30 million and narrowband Internet subscriber base of 175.18 million in September 2016.
The broadband Internet subscriber base grew 18.66 percent to 192.30 million in September 2016.
