Lowest revenue growth of Telecom sector in last 6 years

According to GSM industry body COAI, despite the further addition of 79 million active subscribers in  the telecom sector, the industry's revenue grew 6.5 percent last year, the lowest since 2010.

Looking back at 2010 shows us that the industry has consistently been delivering double-digit growth of about 10 percent. But now it has come to the level of 6.5 percent, after years of constant revenue growth.

However, another factor in the low numbers can be TRAI reducing interconnection charges from 20 paise per minute to 14 paise per minute, the decline in roaming rates and reduction in SMS rates has led to a steep decline of an estimated 8-10 percent.

Although overall subscriber base rose by 79 million last year, the industry has seen a decline in revenue from voice calls.  IT is shocking to see that the overall mobile voice segment revenue recorded negative to zero growth for the first time in the history of Indian mobility sector.

Recently, COAI also announced new leadership team with Bharti Airtel MD and CEO for India and South Asia Gopal Vittal was elected Chairman, taking over from Kapania.