Telcos gross revenue rises by 12.27% to Rs 71,588 cr in Oct-Dec 2020, TRAI

TRAI today has released the “Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicator Report” for the Quarter ending 31st December, 2020. This Report provides a broad perspective of the Telecom Services in India and presents the key parameters and growth trends of the Telecom Services as well as Cable TV, DTH & Radio Broadcasting services in India for the period covering 1st October, 2020 to 31st December, 2020 compiled mainly on the basis of information furnished by the Service Providers.

Executive Summary of the Report is enclosed. The complete Report is available on TRAI’s website (www.trai.gov.in under the link http://www. trai.gov.in/release-publication/reports/performance-indicators-reports). Any suggestion or any clarification pertaining to this report, Shri Amit Sharma, Advisor (F&EA), TRAI may be contacted on Tel. +91-11-23234367, and e-mail: [email protected].

Executive summary

1. The number of telephone subscribers in India increased from 1,168.66 million at the end of Sep-20 to 1,173.83 million at the end of Dec-20, registering a growth rate of 0.44% over the previous quarter. This reflects Year-On-Year (Y-O-Y) growth rate of 0.12% over the same quarter of the last year. The overall Tele-density in India also increased from 86.22% as in QE Sep-20 to 86.38% as in QE Dec-20.

Trends in Telephone subscribers and Tele-density in India

2. Telephone subscribers in Urban areas increased from 644.26 million at the end of Sep-20 to 647.91 million at the end of Dec-20 and Urban Tele-density also increased from 138.25% to 138.34% during the same period.
3. Rural telephone subscribers increased from 524.39 million at the end of Sep-20 to 525.92 million at the end of Dec-20 and Rural Tele-density also increased from 58.96% to 59.05% during the same period.
4. Out of the total subscription, the share of Rural subscription decreased from 44.87% at the end of Sep-20 to 44.80% at the end of Dec-20.

Composition of Telephone Subscribers

5. With a net increase of 5.19 million subscribers during the quarter, the total wireless subscriber base increased from 1,148.58 million at the end of Sep-20 to 1,153.77 million at the end of Dec-20, registering a growth rate of 0.45% over the previous quarter. On Y-O-Y basis, wireless subscriptions also increased at the rate of 0.20% during the year.
6. Wireless Tele-density increased from 84.74% at the end of Sep-20 to 84.90% at the end of Dec-20 with quarterly growth rate of 0.19%.
7. Wireline subscribers decreased from 20.08 million at the end of Sep-20 to 20.05 million at the end of Dec-20 with a quarterly decline rate of 0.12% and, on Y-O-Y basis, wireline subscriptions also declined by 4.53% at the end of QE Dec-20.
8. Wireline Tele-density remained same i.e. 1.48% at the end of Dec, 2020, as it was at the end of Sep-20.
9. Total number of Internet subscribers increased from 776.45 million at the end of Sep-20 to 795.18 million at the end of Dec-20, registering a quarterly growth rate of 2.41%. Out of 795.18 million internet subscribers, number of Wired Internet subscribers are 25.54 million and number of Wireless Internet subscribers are 769.64 million.

Composition of internet subscription

• The Internet subscriber base is comprised of Broadband Internet subscriber base of 747.41 million and Narrowband Internet subscriber base of 47.77 million.
• The broadband Internet subscriber base increased by 2.90% from 726.32 million at the end of Sep-20 to 747.41 million at the end of Dec-20. However, the narrowband Internet subscriber base declined by 4.72% from 50.14 million at the end of Sep-20 to 47.77 million at the end of Dec-20.
• Monthly Average Revenue per User (ARPU) for wireless service increased by 4.93%, from `87 in QE Sep-20 to `101.65 in QE Dec-20. On Y-O-Y basis, monthly ARPU for wireless service increased by 29.24% in this quarter.
• Prepaid ARPU per month increased from to `90 in QE Sep-20 to `95 in QE Dec-20, however, Postpaid ARPU per month decreased from `234 in QE Sep-20 to `227 in QE Dec-20.
• On all India average, the overall Minutes of Usage (MOU) per subscriber per month for wireless service increased by 3.14% from 761 in QE Sep-20 to 785 in QE Dec-20.
• Prepaid MOU per subscriber per month increased from 765 in QE Sep-20 to 793 in QE Dec-20. Postpaid MOU per subscriber per month decreased from 680 in QE Sep-20 to 631 in QE Dec-20.

16. Gross Revenue (GR) and Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) of Telecom Service Sector for the Q.E. Dec-20 has been `71,588 Crore and `47,623 Crore respectively. GR and AGR increased by 4.92% and 4.19% respectively in Q.E. Dec-20 as compared to previous quarter.
17. The Y-O-Y growth in GR and AGR in Q.E. Dec-20 over the same quarter in last year has been 12.27% and 16.50% respectively.
18. Pass-through charges increased from `22,521 Crore in QE Sep-20 to `23,966 Crore in QE Dec-20 with quarterly growth rate of 6.41%. The Y-O-Y growth rate of 4.71% has been recorded in pass-through charges for QE Dec-20.
19. The License Fee increased from `3,656 Crore for the QE Sep-20 to `3,809 Crore for the QE Dec-20. The quarterly and the Y-O-Y growth rates of license fee are 4.19% and 16.49% respectively in this quarter.

Service-wise composition of Adjusted Gross Revenue

20. Access services contributed 80% of the total Adjusted Gross Revenue of telecom services. In Access services, Gross Revenue (GR), Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR), License Fee Spectrum Usage Charges (SUC)10 and Pass Through Charges increased by 4.98%, 5.38%, 5.39%, 6.06% and 4% respectively in QE Dec-20.

• Monthly Average Revenue per User (ARPU) for Access Services based on AGR, increased from `87 in QE Sep-20 to `108.78 in QE Dec-20.
• The performance of wireline service providers in terms of QoS during the quarter vis-à-vis that in the previous quarter is given below: –

• The performance of Cellular Mobile service providers in terms of Quality of Service (QoS) during the quarter vis-à-vis that in the previous quarter is given as below: –

• A total number of 907 private satellite TV channels have been permitted by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) for uplinking only/downlinking only/both uplinking and downlinking, as on 31st December, 2020.
• As per the reporting done by broadcasters in pursuance of the Tariff Order (Broadcasting & Cable), dated 3rd March 2017, as amended, there are 326 pay channels as on 31st December 2020, which include 233 SD (standard definition) pay TV channels and 93 HD (high definition) Pay TV channels.
• Since its introduction in the year 2003, DTH (direct-to-home) service has displayed a phenomenal growth. During QE 31st December 2020, there were 4 pay DTH service providers in the country.
• Pay DTH has attained total active subscriber base of around 70.99 million in QE 31st December 2020. This is in addition the subscribers of DTH Free Dish (free DTH services of Doordarshan).
• Apart from the radio stations operated by All India Radio – the public broadcaster, as on 31st December 2020, there are 367 operational private FM Radio stations in 105 cities with operational 31 Private FM Radio broadcasters are same as previous quarter.
• The reported advertisement revenue during the quarter ending 31st December 2020 in respect of 366 private FM Radio stations is `01 crore as against `198.53 crore in respect of 366 private FM Radio stations for the previous quarter.
• As per data received from MIB, as on 31st December 2020, 315 Community Radio Stations are operational in the country.

CT Bureau