Reliance Communications Q3 net up 31 percent

Reliance Communications (RCom), a part of the Anil Ambani-led group, posted consolidated net profit of Rs.201 crore for the third quarter of 2014-15, up 31 percent from the second quarter of this fiscal, a company statement said here Friday.

"Net profit at Rs. 201 crore, up 31 percent from Rs.153 crore in Q2," the statement said. The net profit was also 85 percent up on year-on-year basis.

The third quarter (Q3) telecom revenue from India operations was at Rs.4,675 crore, up 3 percent from Q2.

The total data traffic of the company was at 76,434 million MB, up 16.2 percent quarter-on-quarter and 83.3 percent year-on-year.

The company clocked highest data usage per subscriber in the industry at 834 MB, up 10.9 percent quarter-on-quarter.

It has 31.4 million data customers including 16.7 million 3G customers.

The global operations revenue of the company was at Rs.1,236 crore, up 23 percent quarter-on-quarter.

The company said it continues to be free cash flow positive. "RCom generated operational cash flow (EBITDA) of Rs.1,851 crore in Q3, paid net finance charges of Rs.652 crore and invested Rs. 348 crore on capex during the quarter. It remains free cash flow (FCF) positive and this is expected to continue."

The company was Feb 10 roped in by Facebook to offer free access to data and web sites to customers through the social networking site's global digital inclusion initiative, Internet.org. The Internet.org initiative will provide access to popular websites and services with zero data charge to make it easier for people to access the internet across both the 2G and 3G platforms, Reliance executives said at a press conference here.

"Internet is the integral part of our well being. It is a tool to transform lifestyle. Data is the raw material of the information age," said Gurdeep Singh, chief executive officer, consumer business, Reliance Communications.

To start with, these services will be available to Reliance customers in Mumbai, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Chennai, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.