The Indian telecom sector had a robust second half of 2021. There were many relief measures announced which helped the telcos and sector and there was a tariff hike at the end for boosting revenues. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has just released the ‘Yearly Performance Indicators Indian Telecom Sector’ report (sixth edition for 2021).
As per the report, the monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) for wireless (full mobility) services was Rs 108.40. The minutes of usage (MoU) per subscriber per month – Wireless (Full Mobility) service was 834 minutes.
The average revenue for wireless data per data subscribers per month for wireless services was Rs 139.94 and the average revenue realisation per subscriber per GB wireless data during the year was Rs 9.96. TRAI report said that the average wireless data usage per data subscriber per month was 14.04GB.
What’s positive for the sector here is that the ARPU per month from wireless services increased to 108.40 in 2021 from Rs 94.87 in 2020. Even the MoU per subscriber per month increased from 759 minutes in 2020 to 834 minutes in 2021.
However, there was a decline in total gross revenue in 2021 as compared to 2020. In 2021, the total gross revenue for the sector stood at Rs 2,68,580 crore in 2021 which was 2.05% down from Rs 2,74,208 crore in 2020.
Total Telecom Subscribers at the End of 2021 as per TRAI Report
The TRAI report suggests that there were a total of 1,178.41 million subscribers (wireless + wireline) at the end of 2021. Out of this, 655.20 million users were urban subscribers and 523.21 million users were rural subscribers. The market share of private operators was 89.41% while the PSU operators held 10.86% of the market.
Out of the total telecom subscribers (1,178.41 million), wireless subscribers were 1,154.62 million and wireline subscribers were 23.79 million. In the wireless segment, there was a growth of 0.07% in terms of the number of subscribers compared to 2020. But in the wireline segment, there was a growth of 18.63% compared to 2020. It is definitely because more and more people are getting fixed-line broadband connections set up at their homes and offices.
The total internet subscribers at the end of 2021 were 829.30 million, which is a positive change of 4.29% over the previous year. Out of these, 802.72 million users were wireless internet subscribers and 26.58 million users were wired internet subscribers.
The number of pay subscribers active with the four DTH (Direct-to-Home) operators of the country was 68.52 million at the end of 2021.
