Idea Cellular Q1 net falls 12 per cent
CORPORAT SCORECARD
The total income rose to Rs 2,177.79 crore during the quarter under review, as against Rs 1,477.53 crore in the comparable quarter a year ago.
Meanwhile, the company said its EBITDA of Rs 720.3 crore grew 40.2 per cent on a year-on-year basis and by 6.9 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter basis.
The GSM major added 3.19 million subscribers during the quarter, taking its total subscriber base to 27.19 million. In its 11 circles, the company consolidated the subscriber market share from 9.4 per cent at the end of the March quarter to 9.6 per cent at the end of the June quarter.
The EBITDA, PBT and PAT for the quarter ended June 30, 2008 were negatively impacted by Rs 299 million due to the expiry of the 2 per cent concession in license fees for 7 service areas.
According to telecom analysts, the company had made forex gains during the comparable period of the previous financial year when the rupee had appreciated against the dollar.
The industry was expecting telecom companies to post robust growth. For example, GSM major Bharti Airtel posted a 44.6 per cent increase in net profit, while RCom is expected to post robust growth of 22.85 per cent during the quarter.
"The telecom sector is poised to post a robust growth this quarter, as 8-9 million subscriber additions are happening every month. The customer addition has been continuing for the last couple of quarters," said Sourabh Kaushal, Principal Consultant ICT Practice (South Asia and West Asia), Frost & Sullivan.
Religare Securities, in its estimates for the quarter, said, "The Indian telecommunications sector will report strong revenue growth for Q1FY'09, driven by a robust wireless subscriber base growth. We expect wireless operators to add 25.3 million subscribers, increasing the total number of subscribers to 276 million".
The sector is undergoing a capex intensive cycle, with launches in new circles and expansion in the existing circles. We expect the profit growth to be lower than sales growth on the back of higher interest and depreciation costs towards capex funding, it added.