iWorld
Telcos power past Rs 1 lakh crore in December quarter
Sector revenues surge year on year, with Reliance Jio in the lead and government levies swelling alongside
NEW DELHI: India’s telecom giants have punched through a psychological barrier. In the December 2025 quarter, their combined gross revenue vaulted past Rs 1 lakh crore, underlining the sector’s pricing muscle and data-driven momentum.
According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), cumulative gross revenue of telecom service providers rose to Rs 1.02 lakh crore in the quarter, up from Rs 99,828 crore in September and Rs 96,390 crore a year earlier. The climb is steady. The signal is clear.
Adjusted gross revenue (AGR) — the metric that matters most because it fattens both company coffers and government levies — grew 8.13 per cent year on year to Rs 84,270 crore, up from Rs 77,934 crore in the same quarter last year. AGR includes revenue from telecom services as well as licence fees and spectrum usage charges paid to the exchequer. When telcos earn more, so does the state.
Access service providers such as Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea accounted for 84.54 per cent of total AGR in the December quarter, reaffirming the dominance of the mobile heavyweights in an increasingly consolidated market.
Data published earlier by TRAI for the September 2025 quarter showed Reliance Jio topping the revenue charts with Rs 31,767.11 crore, ahead of its rivals. The December numbers suggest the pecking order is unlikely to have shifted dramatically.
For a sector once mired in bruising price wars and AGR litigation, the rebound is striking. Tariff repairs, premium data plans and relentless subscriber upgrades are doing the heavy lifting. Revenues are rising, government collections are firming and balance-sheets are breathing easier.
India’s telecom story, long defined by survival, is now tilting towards scale and cash. The quarter’s message: the industry is no longer merely connected — it is charging ahead.
