The adjusted gross revenue (AGR) of the telecom services sector increased 1.88% sequentially to ₹67,835 crore in the December quarter of 2023, according to data released by telecom regulator Trai. Year-on-year (year-on-year), AGR, which represents telecom companies' revenue from telecom services and certain items, grew 7.84%.

“The growth rate of gross revenue (GR), applicable gross revenue (ApGR) and AGR in QE as of December 23 compared to the same quarter last year was -4.16%, 5.84% and 7.84%, respectively,” it said the report.

The number of telephone subscribers in India increased from 1,181.13 million in September 2023 to 1,190.33 million in December 2023, registering a quarter-on-quarter growth rate of 0.78%. This reflects a growth rate of 1.70% compared to the same quarter last year.

Trai's latest report 'Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicators' says, “GR, ApGR and AGR of the telecom services sector stood at ₹84,500 crore, ₹81,101 crore and ₹67,835 crore respectively for the quarter ended December 2023. GR increased by 2.13% Compared to the previous quarter, ApGR increased by 1.70% and AGR increased by 1.88% in the quarter ended December 2023.

Access services contributed 82.07% of the total adjusted gross revenue of telecommunications services.

The report also highlighted that in the Access Services segment, there were increases of 2.47% in GR, 2.53% in ApGR, 2.38% in AGR, 2.37% in Royalty, 1.11% in Spectrum Usage Charges (SUC) and 1.78% at… gave pass-through charges in the December 2023 quarter.

The royalty increased from ₹5,326 crore in the September quarter of 2023 to ₹5,433 crore in the December quarter of 2023. The quarterly growth rate and annual growth rate of royalty for this quarter are 2.01% and 7.98%, respectively.

Passthrough charges increased from ₹13,425 crore in September quarter 2023 to ₹13,452 crore in December quarter 2023, registering a quarterly growth rate of 0.21%. However, for the December 2023 quarter, there was a 6.46% year-on-year decline in pass-through charges.

Specifically, Bharti Airtel's AGR in the Access Services category increased by 3.2% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) to about ₹20,480.58 crore in the December quarter, registering a growth of 11.98% YoY. For Reliance Jio, AGR rose 2.67% QoQ to ₹24,862.85 crore, with a growth of 10.08% YoY.

On the other hand, Vodafone Idea, which recently completed its follow-on public offer of ₹18,000 crore, saw its AGR decline by 0.65% sequentially to around ₹7,459.08 crore in December quarter 2023, with a growth of 1.78 % compared to the previous year.

The Trai report also mentioned that the share of public sector companies in the access AGR of telecom services was 3.87% in the December quarter of 2023.