The Indian telecom industry's gross revenue increased 87% from its low point in FY19 to Rs 2.39 lakh crore ($29 billion) in FY24, shortly after Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio commenced services, global brokerage CLSA said in a research released on Thursday. The gross revenue was also almost 40% greater than the previous highs of FY16, before Jio began offering commercial services.

 

With Jio and rival Bharti Airtel continue to add subscribers, primarily at the expense of cash-strapped Vodafone Idea (Vi), the two largest telecoms accounted for 78% of total income. CLSA estimates this to increase to 83% by FY26, with Vi continuing rolling out 5G services.

 

Vi's revenue market share (RMS) declined 130 basis points to 15.7% in FY24, but its sales remained steady year on year at Rs 37,700 crore. This contrasts to Airtel's 12% year-on-year revenue rise to Rs 88,700 crore, or RMS of 37% (against 35.8% in FY23), and Jio's 10% gain to Rs 99,200 crore, or RMS of 41.4% (versus 40.9% in FY23), according to the brokerage.

 

“VIdea’s lower 5G spectrum and delayed 5G roll out could still trigger further share consolidation with leading operators RJio and Bharti rapidly ramping up 5G services,” CLSA said.

 

As per analyst, industry-wide active subscriber acquisition declined 0.1 million in April after increasing by 1.8 million on average over the previous six months. Jio's gain of 3 million subscribers was countered by Airtel and Vi losing 2.1 million and 0.6 million active users, respectively.