Jio’s free schemes to give Airtel, Vodafone, Idea setback

New Delhi: Due to the marketing rivalry of Jio Infocom with all India’s leading telecom companies, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular, have seen a sharp decline in their adjusted gross revenue (AGR) in the quarter ending March.

According to a report by BI, Bharti Airtel, had its AGR reduced by 9.9% to stand at Rs 10,400 crore, while Vodafone India and Idea Cellular saw a drop of 12.6% and 8%, reporting AGRs at Rs 7,300 crore and Rs 6,400 crore, respectively.

The ICICI Securities after analysing data provided by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had published a report saying the same.

AGR has dropped “nearly 22% on-year and 14% sequentially to Rs 29,700 crore in the March quarter on intense competitive pressure unleashed by Jio,” said Sanjesh Jain, research analyst at ICICI Securities, in a note directed to clients.

TRAI will hold a meeting this month with the heads of the telecoms to discuss the possible solutions that can be brought into implementation. Post that meeting, Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha is also supposed to meet the promoters of the phone companies on June 22-23 to discuss the crisis.