Reliance Communications reports 16-percent jump in profits

Reliance Communications, a part of Anil Ambani-led group, Friday posted a 16 percent jump in profit after tax for the second quarter of this fiscal, despite a marginal drop in revenues.

The profit after tax stood at Rs.153 crore, up 16 percent from Rs.132 crore posted during the first quarter, the company said in a filing with the bourses.

The company's second quarter revenue stood at Rs.5,403 crore, down 2.2 percent from Rs.5,523 crore in first quarter. "This is in line with the industry trends due to seasonal factors," a company statement said.

The average revenue per user stood at Rs.137 in the second quarter, up 0.7 percent quarter-on-quarter.

During the quarter the total data traffic of the company stood at 65,778 million mega bytes, up 19 percent quarter-on-quarter and 75 percent year-on-year. The company has 29.7 million data customers including 15.1 million third generation (3G) customers.

"RCom has upgraded its data network to include many more metro cities. This enables high speed data services to customers with speeds up to 14.7 mega bits per second," the company said in a statement.

"This will also help the company to launch wi-fi dongles and standalone wi-fi routers, which will offer rich data experience up to 20 connected devices simultaneously."