Telecom industry focus: Premiumisation drives revenue growth in Q1 as tariff hikes take a backseat

The telecom sector recorded Q1FY25 adjusted gross revenue (AGR) growth of 0.9 per cent sequentially and 7.5 per cent YoY to Rs 636 billion (per TRAI data) even with absence of any major tariff hikes. This, per a report by JM Financial, was driven primarily on account of telcos’ continued premiumisation efforts, like MBB (mobile broad-band) upgrades, prepaid-to-postpaid upgrades, data monetisation and international roaming. The growth was also aided by decent wireless subscriber (subs) growth (of 5 million) in Q1FY25.