Telcos earn Rs 46,891 cr in Q1, Airtel leads pack

NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel has cornered around 22 per cent of the total revenue of Rs 46,891.61 crore earned by telecom service providers during the first quarter of 2011-12, regulator Trai said today. Airtel's gross revenue was the highest at Rs 10,212.96 crore, followed by Vodafone at Rs 6,893.91 crore, Idea Cellular at Rs 4,600.77 crore and state-run BSNL at Rs 4427.80 crore, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said in its India Telecom Services Performance Indicator Report. Revenues of Reliance Communication, state-run MTNL, Videcon and Quadrant Televentures, however dipped to Rs 3,014.90 crore, Rs 750.62 crore, Rs 162.18 crore and 51.40 crore, respectively. Tata Teleservices earned Rs 2,865.66 crore, Aircel Rs 1,541.09 crore, Unitech Rs 538.90 crore, Shyam Sistema Rs 279.05 crore, Loop Telecom 186.05 crore and S Tel Rs 38.52 crore. The gross revenue of Rs 46,891.61 crore is up by a marginal 3 per cent from the previous quarter. The revenue growth is 13 per cent compared to Rs 41,392.75 crore earned in the same period last fiscal. The adjusted gross revenue (AGR) on which the government charges the licence fee grew by 3.56 per cent Rs 32,589.93 crore in the first quarter, sequentially. Telecom service providers are charged a licence fee of 10 per cent of AGR in the metros and category 'A' areas, 8 per cent in in category 'B' areas and, 6 per cent category 'C' areas.