RCom net down 60% on interest outgo

As the mobile phone carrier struggled with its heavy debt load

Reliance Communications Ltd on Thursday reported a 59.5 per cent decline in net profit during the July-September quarter at Rs 102 crore, compared to Rs 252 crore reported during the same quarter in the last year.

Net profit has dropped as the company had paid huge interest during the quarter.

According to a company statement, it had paid Rs 593 crore as finance charges during the July-September quarter this year, a jump of 161.2 per cent compared to Rs 227 crore paid during the corresponding quarter last year.

Turnover of the company increased by just 3.2 per cent to Rs 5202 crore during the second quarter of the current year, as compared to Rs 5,040 crore reported in the same quarter previous year.

Ebitda margin slightly dropped to 31.5 per cent during the quarter under review. It was reported at 31.8 per cent during the same period last year.

Reliance Communications shares on the Bombay Stock Exchange closed 1.3 per cent up at Rs 58.55 on Thursday.

Its global enterprise revenue increased 4.2 per cent to Rs 2,433 crore during July-September quarter, against Rs 2,335 crore reported during the year-ago period.

In a statement, Reliance Communication has said that the company had increased pre-paid tariffs by 25 per cent across GSM and CDMA platforms, during the quarter under review.