Telco ARPU Rises 8% to Rs 157.45 in June Quarter: Trai

New Delhi, Oct 9 (PTI) In signs of improving financial metrics of telecom firms, the monthly average revenue for mobile services rose over 8 per cent year-on-year to Rs 157.45 per user in the quarter ended June 2024, according to a Trai report.

The monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) for wireless service stood at Rs 153.54 in the January-March period, thus translating into a 2.55 per cent sequential increase.

In its quarterly performance indicator report, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said the Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) of the telecom service sector for the reporting quarter increased by 0.13 per cent on a quarterly basis to Rs 70,555 crore.

On a year-on-year basis, AGR grew by 7.51 per cent.

The number of telephone subscribers in India increased to 1,205.64 million against 1,199.28 million in the previous quarter, registering a growth of 0.53 per cent.

Wireline subscriptions came in at 35.11 million, an uptick of 15.81 per cent on an annual basis.

With a net rise of 5.04 million subscribers during the quarter, the total wireless subscriber base increased 0.43 per cent quarter-on-quarter to 1,170.53 million at the end of June 2024 from 1,165.49 million at the end of March 2024. The wireless subscriptions grew 2.36 per cent year-on-year.

Wireline teledensity increased from 2.41 per cent at the end of March 2024 to 2.50 per cent at the end of June 2024.

Wireless Tele-density rose 0.21 per cent quarter-on-quarter to 83.45 per cent at the end of June 2024 compared to 83.27 per cent.

The overall teledensity in India increased to 85.95 per cent quarter-on-quarter from 85.69 per cent.

While rural teledensity advanced to 59.65 per cent in June against 59.19 per cent in March, urban teledensity declined from 133.72 per cent to 133.46 per cent.

The total number of internet subscribers grew 1.59 per cent quarter-on-quarter to 969.60 million as of June 2024.

The Internet subscriber base includes 28.85 million narrowband subscribers and 940.75 million broadband users.

Reliance Jio witnessed the highest 9.18 per cent increase in subscriber base to 489.72 million.

Bharti Airtel's user base rose 4.42 per cent to 398.07 million.

Troubled telco Vodafone Idea's subscription declined by 5.30 per cent to 218.12 million.

State-owned BSNL and MTNL saw a drop of 13.16 per cent and 4.88 per cent in subscriber base, respectively.