Telecom sector AGR rose 8.24% to Rs.2.7 trillion in FY24, shows Trai data

Spectrum usage charges collected by the government saw 32% fall

The telecom sector witnessed an 8.24 per cent growth in adjusted gross revenue (AGR), reaching Rs 2.7 trillion in FY24, up from Rs 2.49 trillion in FY23, data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Wednesday showed.

AGR is the basis on which the Department of Telecom (DoT) calculates levies payable by operators, and it had increased by 1.46 per cent and 1.75 per cent in the preceding two quarters.

The quarterly Telecom Services Performance Indicator report also revealed that AGR increased by 10.32 per cent in the fourth quarter (January-March) year-on-year, as a result of rising average revenue per user (ARPU) of telecom operators.

The gross revenue of telecom service providers also rose 0.71 per cent to Rs 3.36 trillion in FY24.

The collections from spectrum usage charge (SUC) saw a steep decline of 32.3 per cent, falling to Rs 3,369 crore from Rs 4,968 crore. SUC collections declined in every quarter of FY24 as a result of the government's decision to cease charging the statutory fee on airwaves acquired from the 5G auction held in July 2022.

Similarly, pass-through charges fell by 4.26 per cent to Rs 53,579 crore, down from Rs 55,965 crore.

However, the licence fee collected in FY24 increased by 8.45 per cent to Rs 21,642 crore, up from Rs 19,954 crore.

Market leader Reliance had the highest AGR of Rs 97,868 crore during the year, rising by 9.62 per cent, while Bharti Airtel saw AGR rising at the highest rate, 12.12 per cent, to Rs 80,529 crore. Vodafone Idea's AGR rose by a marginal 0.79 per cent to Rs 29,605 crore.