Telecom Regulatory Authority of India revealed that the revenue share per user from data usage has witnessed a growth of over 10 times from June 2013 to December 2022.
Telecom operators have experienced a significant decline in their revenue share from voice calls and SMS over the past decade, with an approximately 80% decrease in voice calls and a 94% decrease in SMS. This decline can be attributed to the increasing usage of internet-based calling and messaging apps.
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However, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) document also revealed that the revenue share per user from data usage has witnessed a remarkable growth of over 10 times from the June 2013 quarter to the December 2022 quarter. The recent paper by the TRAI addresses the need to regulate internet messaging and calling applications such as WhatsApp, Google Meet, and Facetime.
TRAI highlights that the increasing usage of over-the-top (OTT) applications for messaging and voice communication has led to a significant shift in the revenue sources for telecom service providers worldwide. In India specifically, TRAI notes that the revenue composition for wireless access service providers has experienced a significant transformation from 2013 to 2022. This shift emphasises the growing importance of data as a primary revenue generator, reflecting the changing dynamics in the telecom industry.
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According to the document, the major components of Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) for telecom operators, excluding data revenue share, have witnessed a decline from the June 2013 quarter to the December 2022 quarter. However, during the same period, the share of revenue from data has experienced significant growth, increasing over 10-fold to 85.1% in the December 2022 quarter compared to 8.1% in the June 2013 quarter, per subscriber.
Despite this growth in data revenue share, the overall ARPU has only grown by approximately 41% from Rs 123.77 to Rs 146.96. The data from the paper indicates that the revenue share from voice calls has declined significantly, representing only Rs 14.79 or 10.1% of the ARPU of Rs 146.96, compared to Rs 72.53 or 58.6% in the June 2013 quarter.
These statistics highlight the substantial shift in the revenue composition for telecom operators, with data becoming the dominant source of revenue while the share of revenue from voice calls has diminished considerably. The paper also reveals that the revenue share from SMS has experienced a decline, reaching 23 paise or 20% of the ARPU from Rs 3.99 or 3.22% in the June 2013 quarter. This decline further highlights the diminishing significance of SMS as a revenue-generating component for telecom operators in comparison to data-based services.
