TRAI Releases Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicator Report for April-June 2024
Context:
Recently, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) published its “Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicator Report” for the quarter ending June 2024.
Key Highlights of the report:
Internet Subscribers:
Total internet subscribers has been increased from 954.40 million in March 2024 to 969.60 million, of which, 42.04 million were wired, and 927.56 million were wireless subscribers.
The broadband subscribers touched 940.75 million showing a growth of 1.81%. Meanwhile, narrowband subscribers decreased to 28.85 million.
Tele-density:
Overall Tele-density: Increased from 85.69% to 85.95%.
Urban Tele-density: Slightly decreased from 133.72% to 133.46%.
Rural Tele-density: Increased from 59.19% to 59.65%.
Financial Performance:
Gross Revenue (GR): Declined by 2.16% to Rs. 86,031 crore.
Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR): Marginally increased by 0.13% to Rs. 70,555 crore, reflecting a year-on-year growth of 7.51%.
License Fee: Increased to Rs. 5,645 crore, growing by 0.14% from the previous quarter.
ARPU (Average Revenue Per User):
Overall ARPU for Wireless Service: Increased by 2.55% to Rs. 157.45.
Prepaid ARPU: Rose to Rs. 154.80, while postpaid ARPU saw a smaller rise to Rs. 189.17.
Usage Trends:
Minutes of Usage (MOU): Decreased by 2.16% to 974 minutes per subscriber per month for wireless services.
Data Consumption: Average wireless data usage per subscriber per month was 21.30 GB.
DTH and Broadcasting:
Pay DTH Services: The total active subscriber base grew to 62.17 million, a slight increase from the previous quarter.
FM Radio: There are 388 operational private FM radio channels, with no change from the previous quarter.
Public Wi-Fi:
Wi-Fi Hotspots: The number of public Wi-Fi hotspots across the country was 1,64,909, with 13,094 TB of data consumed during the quarter.
Conclusion:
This report highlights steady growth in India’s telecom sector, especially in broadband internet and wireless data usage. Despite a slight decline in revenue in some areas, the overall sector shows resilience with a growing subscriber base and improvements in quality of service parameters.