Twitter
Advertisement

Data, voice growth boosts Idea Q4 net by 60% to Rs 942 crore

On a full year basis (FY15), Idea's revenue grew 19.1% to Rs 31,555 crore, while profit after tax was up over 62% to Rs 3,193 crore.

Latest News
article-main
Idea Cellular logo
FacebookTwitterWhatsappLinkedin

The Aditya Birla Group's telecom arm Idea Cellular today reported a robust 59.68% increase in net profit at Rs 941.77 crore on a consolidated basis for the March quarter, driven by rise in revenue through volume growth on both voice and data fronts.

Total revenues moved up to Rs 8,422.51 crore in the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2015, from Rs 7,043.82 crore in the year-ago period and Rs 8,017.47 crore in the preceding December quarter.

Idea Managing Director Himanshu Kapania told reporters the growth was driven by a healthy subscriber expansion which came in at 9.1 million in the last quarter as against 8.1 million in the third quarter, 2014-15, an 8.4% rise in minutes to 185 billion and an 18.3% increase in data usage at 84.5 billion MB.

He said the aggressive competition in the sector -- with up to eight companies fighting it out on the voice side and up to five on the data -- continues to be a challenge, which is affecting realised rates. There was a 4.8% decline in voice rate in the March quarter and 4.5% on data front.

Hinting at the improving quality of subscribers, Kapania said the average revenue per user improved to Rs 179 from Rs 173 in the year-ago period.

The private telecom operator's pre-tax profit margin improved by 3.2 percentage points to 31%, which was attributed to the increased scale of operations.

Idea said there was a Rs 105-crore negative impact on the revenues because of the changes in regulation governing the interconnect user charges and Chief Financial Officer Akshaya Moondra said aggressive play by smaller operators can result in this becoming an issue for concern. 

On a full year basis (FY15), Idea's revenue grew 19.1% to Rs 31,555 crore, while profit after tax was up over 62% to Rs 3,193 crore.

Moondra said in the recently held auctions, Idea was successful in wresting spectrum in all the nine telecom circles (which account for 69 per cent of its revenues) that was coming up for renewal. The company has already paid over Rs 7,000 of the overall outgo of more than Rs 30,000 crore.

The telecom firm's net debt stayed almost flat at Rs 12,804 crore in the last fiscal, while net debt to pre-tax profit ratio stood at 1.15:1, he said.

It invested Rs 4,012 crore for expansion in 2014-15 and is targeting to hike it up to Rs 5,500 crore in 2015-16, Moondra said, adding the company will be needing investments for 3G expansion in the Maharashtra, Delhi and Kolkata circles.

Kapania said the company is gearing up for the high data speed 4G play and also bought some spectrum in the recently completed auction. It is studying the adoption in similar markets like China, Indonesia and Malaysia, and expecting the device and equipment prices to come down.

The company would like the prices of 4G-compatible handsets to come down to under $50 before it enters the fray, he said.

On the controversial issue of net neutrality (equal treatment by ISPs for all types of content), Kapania said Idea supports the concept fully, but stressed there is a need to make data tariffs affordable.

Asserting that Idea is not afraid of the growth of voice-over-Internet protocol services, Kapania said there is a need to get parity in regulation, saying same service (voice) should have the same rules.

He expressed reservations about the growing activism over the Internet on debates like net neutrality and suggested that the complex job of regulation to be left to experts rather than all consumers jumping into it.

Asked about Idea's own cheaper offering for popular platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook, which critics would say goes against net neutrality, Kapania said the revenues from this plan are "insignificant" and the company does not sell this aggressively in the market.

The Idea scrip closed 2.79% high at Rs 191.55 on the BSE, as against a 0.81% gain in the benchmark Sensex after two weeks of declines.

Find your daily dose of news & explainers in your WhatsApp. Stay updated, Stay informed-  Follow DNA on WhatsApp.
Advertisement

Live tv

Advertisement
Advertisement