Reliance Jio pips Airtel, becomes no. 2 telecom operator by AGR

NEW DELHI: Reliance Jio Infocomm has surpassed Bharti Airtel to become the second largest telecom operator in terms of adjusted gross revenue (AGR) in the quarter ended June, latest data from the sector regulator show.

Mukesh Ambani-owned Jio recorded an AGR from access services — or revenue derived from licensed services — of Rs 7,125 crore for the June quarter, up 14.6% from the previous quarter, while Airtel’s AGR fell 5.1% quarter-on-quarter to Rs 6,723 crore, according to the quarterly financial data released by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Wednesday.

The development underlines strong growth of the new entrant and declining strength of the erstwhile market leader. Jio had surpassed Vodafone and Idea Cellular individually in the January-March quarter, but would lag behind them now since the two merged to form Vodafone Idea at end of August.


In the June quarter — before the merger had closed — Vodafone’s AGR fell 9.2% on quarter to Rs 4,483.68 crore and Idea’s dipped 7.2% to Rs 3,743.12 crore, to aggregate a combined Rs 8,226 crore. State-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd was the only telco other than Jio to show a growth in AGR in the June quarter, rising 6.8% on quarter to Rs 2,273 crore.

Given the pace of Jio’s growth, analysts said it may not take long for the company to go past Vodafone Idea in AGR.

Jio’s entry in September 2016 had unleashed a tariff war in the telecom industry, leading to erosion of the revenue of older operators, dragging industry AGR down, and triggering a consolidation by forcing a slew of exits and mergers.

However, helped by Jio and BSNL, industry AGR grew 2.40% in the April-June quarter at Rs 35,552 crore, after two successive quarters of sequential declines. Access services contributed over 70% of the industry AGR.

Meanwhile, the telecom sector continued to see a slide in licence fee collection, which dropped 0.11% to .`2,929 crore for the June quarter. Spectrum usage charge fell 2.21% to .`1,023 crore in the quarter. License fee and SUC are paid by telcos to the government basis their AGR.

The monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) for GSM service (in-cluding LTE) fell by 8.92%, from Rs 76 in the March quarter to Rs 69 in June quarter. As the industry players deal with low rates, customers are making the most of the free voice offers. Minutes of usage per subscriber have reached 608 minutes per month, up from 584 minutes a month in the March quarter.

In terms of subscriber base at June end, Vodafone Idea with 443.5 million subscribers had 37.9% of the market share while Bharti Airtel (including Telenor and Tata) came in second with 32.26% market share and 377 million subscribers. Reliance Jio was third with 215 million subscribers and 18.42% market share.