Your telco, even govt are suffering, your cheap plans to blame

The gross revenue of telecom service providers and licence fee paid to the government declined by around 10 per cent to Rs 58,401 crore and Rs 2,929 crore, respectively, in April-June 2018 on year-on-year basis, a Trai report said Wednesday.

"Gross revenue (GR) and adjusted gross revenue (AGR) of the telecom service sector for the quarter ended June 2018 has been Rs 58,401 crore and Rs 36,552 crore, respectively," Trai's Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicator report said.

The GR and AGR declined by 10 and 8.11 per cent, respectively on year-on-year basis. On quarter-on-quarter basis, the GR declined by 6.10 per cent, however, AGR increased by 2.40 per cent in quarter June 2018.

The decline in AGR, which is revenue earned from sale of telecom services, led to fall in licence fees paid to the government by around 10 per cent to Rs 2,929 crore, according to the report.

The revenue of telecom operators from sale of services to retail subscribers, technically called access services, declined by 14.95 per cent to Rs 25,585 crore. The access services accounted for 70 per cent of the total AGR in the telecom segment.

"In Access services, GR, license fee, spectrum usage charges and pass through charges declined by 9.07 per cent, 2.88 per cent, 2.21 per cent and 21.86 per cent, respectively in quarter ended June 2018," the report said. 

The GR and AGR of the telecom service providers have been on decline, barring few exceptions, after it peaked to Rs 73,344.66 crore and Rs 53,383.55 crore in April-June 2016 quarter with average revenue per user (ARPU) at Rs 140.88. 

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The licence fee collected by the government during this quarter in 2016 was Rs 4,314 crore. The monthly ARPU in the April-June 2018 period declined by 12 per cent to Rs 73.34 oin yoy basis.