Mukesh Ambani-led 4G telco Reliance Jio reported a positive adjusted gross revenue (AGR) of Rs 4,270 crore for the first time in the quarter ended September 30, 2017, ICICI Securities said in a note. Jio's performance had also driven the entire industry's AGR by 8.6% quarter over quarter after three successive quarters of declines to Rs 30,800 crore, the agency said.
ICICI Securities said that the growth in the AGR was driven by Jio recognising its revenues in the September quarter. The telco, however, got benefitted by recognising its entire `Summer Surprise’ promotional offer revenues during the period, it added.
Reliance Jio, in the quarter, had reported a net loss of Rs 270.59 crore and had posted revenue of Rs 6,147 crore and EBITDA of Rs 1,443 crore. Its EBITDA margin of 23.5% during the quarter. The telco, which started services last September with free promotional voice and data offers, said that consolidated value of services stood at Rs 7,213 crore, while consolidated EBIT stood at Rs 261 crore.
Jio had then reported an average revenue per user (ARPU) of Rs 156.4 in the September quarter, which was higher than the Rs 154 reported by market leader Bharti Airtel in the April-June period.
As compared to Jio's AGR, India's leading telco Bharti Airtel’s AGR dropped 10.5% sequentially to Rs 8,600 crore, while Vodafone and Idea Cellular’s AGR plunged 11.1% and 13.8% sequentially to Rs 6,300 crore and Rs 5,300 crore, respectively, the agency said.
Another agency BNP Paribas, separately, said that the growing adoption of bundled plans is now leading to increased interconnection usage charges (IUC) for incumbent telecom operators, which in turn, is causing significant pressure on their AGR, especially in the weaker circles.
BNP also said that Airtel's revenue market share RMS in the September quarter declined 3% sequentially to 31.2%, while Vodafone and Idea’s RMS declined by 2.8% and 2.7% sequentially to 21.3% and 16.2%, respectively. Jio, on the other hand, reported a 14.5% RMS in the fiscal second quarter.
An ET report said that Deutsche Bank now expects subscriber and revenue share metrics to remain volatile during FY18 on account of rapid shifts in pricing from Jio, significant changes in voice traffic patterns due to unlimited voice plan bundles, and cut in IUC charges.
