Telecom industry revenue up 16% in Q2; Airtel gains largest share, Vi sees loss
2 min read 09 Dec 2022, 05:21 PM ISTJio’s AGR rose 3% on quarter and 20.1% on year to ₹22,500 crore, leading to a market share of 41.4%, up 56bps sequentially
PremiumNEW DELHI: Adjusted gross revenues (AGR) of the telecom industry grew 16.4% year-on-year to ₹54,300 crore in the September quarter. Bharti Airtel gained the most, with its revenue market share up 83 basis points (bps) sequentially to 36.3%, while Vodafone Idea (Vi) continued to lose more ground.
“The benefit of premiumisation has been limited while subscriber growth has returned post SIM consolidation. The Q2FY23 annualised revenue stood at ₹2.17 trillion and AGR was ₹1.9 trillion for FY22. Industry gross revenue was up 3.1% on-quarter and 21% on-year to ₹61,600 crore," ICICI Securities said in a note on Friday.
According to analysts ICICI Securities, Airtel has grown faster in metros and A circles, when compared with Reliance Jio, driven by higher postpaid subscriber additions, and better monetisation of data usage. Vodafone Idea’s AGR market share fell 20bps to 17.5% on underperformance in leadership circles.
Airtel’s AGR rose 4.0 on quarter and 17.7% on year to ₹19,700 crore, expanding 41bps on year, with its incremental AGR on quarter at ₹760 crore versus ₹660 crore for Reliance Jio. A circle-wise analysis shows Airtel grew significantly faster in metros at 10% on quarter and 5.7% in A circles, even as growth was slower in B and C circles at 2.6% and 2% on quarter, respectively.
According to ICICI Securities, Uttar Pradesh east, Uttar Pradesh west, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh circles under performed. It said that Airtel’s gross revenue-based market share of 38% was equal to Jio’s even when there was a gap of 510bps between their AGR market shares, in favour of Jio.
Vodafone Idea’s AGR-based market share fell to 17.5% down 20bps on quarter but increased 9.7% on year to ₹9,500 crore. “Growth in leadership circles was slower at 0.9% on-quarter due to dip in on-quarter revenue in UP east (down 11.2%), MP (down 3.6%) and Maharashtra (down 0.6%)," analysts at the firm said. Growth in established circles was relatively faster at 3.2% on-quarter while that in others increased by 2.9%, analysts added.
In comparison, Jio’s AGR rose 3% on quarter and 20.1% on year to ₹22,500 crore, leading to a market share of 41.4%, up 56bps on quarter.
“AGR growth has been relatively higher in metros at 3.3% on-quarter and A’ circles at 4.4% on-quarter; however, they have grown significantly slower compared to Bharti in the same circles. B and C circles AGR rose at 2.3% and 2.6%, respectively," analysts said.
In circle-wise analysis, RJio lost market share in eight circles and under-performed in a few circles, namely Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. It also showed significant pick-up in AGR in Karnataka circle, which has been a stronghold of Airtel, up 10.4% on-quarter and 36.9% on-year.
Reliance Jio’s market share based on gross revenue has been close to 38% for the past five quarters, while Airtel has also gained under the same parameter.
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