22 August 2024
The Indian telecom industry saw an increase in the average revenue per user (ARPU) figure for wireless services in FY24.
According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the industry's ARPU jumped 7.57% in FY24. However, Airtel was the only operator to contribute notably to the growth.
For prepaid services, ARPU went up from Rs 135.47 to Rs 146.37 YoY. For postpaid services, it went up from Rs 176.73 to Rs 184.63. In FY25, this growth should be boosted owing to the mobile plans tariff hikes implemented at the start of the second quarter of FY25. Every private telecom operator increased the price of their plans.
The number of wireless data subscribers also increased. At the end of March 2024, there were 913.34 million wireless data subscribers compared to 846.21 million users a year ago. This also resulted in a boost in revenues from data services. Total revenue from wireless data usage increased from Rs. 1,74,144 crore in 2022-23 to Rs. 1,86,226 crore in the year 2023-24 with yearly rate of growth of 6.94%.
Rural telephone subscription increased from 518.63 million at the end of March 2023 to 533.90 million at the end of March 2024, at a yearly rate of growth of 2.94%. Rural tele-density also increased from 57.71% at the end of March 2023 to 59.19% at the end of March 2024 with a yearly rate of growth of 2.56%.
