Vsnl Net Dips 4.54% To Rs 365.5 Crore

Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) has reported a 4.54 per cent fall in net profit at Rs 365.5 crore during the quarter-ended June 30, compared with Rs 382.9 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal.

Net sales for the quarter was Rs 1528.3 crore as against Rs 1701.8 crore in the quarter ended June 30, 2000. Other income during the period was Rs 113.8 crore (Rs 155.2 crore).

The revenue from telephony was lower by around 11 per cent due to steep reduction in Total Accounting Rate (TAR). However, this has been compensated by growth in telephonic traffic.

Due to corporatisation of Intelsat, the global telecom major, no revenue has accrued during the quarter as compared with Rs 21 crore received during the corresponding period in the previous year.

The revenue growth from value-added services was also affected during the quarter due to significant reduction in tariffs by approximately 50-70 per cent.

"Despite significantly lower TAR by 27-28 per cent and fall in tariffs for various value-added services, VSNL has been able to report healthy performance," SK Gupta, chairman and managing director of VSNL, said.

A VSNL release said the number of Internet dial-up subscribers have increased by 48 per cent compared to the subscriber-base as on June 30, 2000.

The international telephony traffic showed a growth of 16.43 per cent during the quarter. The number of leased data circuits equivalent to 64 kbps have shown a growth of 182 per cent, VSNL said.