Idea Q1 net jumps 28% on data, voice revenue growth

Country's third largest telecom operator Idea Cellular today reported a 28 per cent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 930.8 crore in the June quarter despite a cut in interconnect charges and a cap on roaming rates as it faced continued pressure on voice business.
The company had reported a net profit of Rs 728.20 crore in the corresponding period last year.
At consolidated level, gross revenue grew 16.4 per cent to Rs 8,798.3 crore. This included a 16 per cent revenue contribution from its telecom mast arm Indus Towers. Voice and data services also added to the higher revenue realisation.

The Aditya Birla Group firm clarified the numbers are not strictly comparable due to changes in the interconnect regulations introduced by the regulator Trai effective March 1, 2015 which massively reduced mobile incoming IUC charges.
"The consolidated net profit rose nearly 28 per cent at Rs 930.8 crore in Q1 despite a Rs 317 crore negative impact on gross revenue compared to Q1 of FY15, due to IUC rates.
Additionally, reducing the upper cap for national roaming voice call charges and SMS charges between 20 and 75 per cent and increase in service tax rate from 12.36 per cent to 14 per cent (from June 1) have also impacted the financial results for this quarter," Managing Director Himanshu Kapania told reporters here this evening.

The voice rate realisation also remained under pressure and fell 11.2 per cent to 32.9 paise/minute.

During the first quarter ended June 30, Idea's average revenue per user (ARPU) was at Rs 182, up 1.7 per cent versus Rs 179 (Q-o-Q), Kapania said.
The company has added 44 lakh active subscribers during the April-June period.
The expansion of voice minutes at 5.8 per cent clocking 195.8 billion minutes on network and 15 per cent mobile data (2G+3G) volume growth to 62.7 billion MB in Q1, Kapania said.
On 4G services, Kapania said the company is all set to roll out fourth generation mobile features in phases in 10 circles during the current year. The prices of 4G equipment are now stable and the company is ready to launch the service in near future, he said, but declined to comment on pricing.

To support its voice and mobile data growth, Idea has spent Rs 1,367.4 crore towards capex in Q1, which was fully funded internal accruals.
The company said it has repaid its loan of Rs 7,650 crore in May 2015, which helped in bringing down gross debt from Rs 25,875 crore to Rs 19,348 crore as on end-June. After allocation for spectrum, the company's net debt stood at Rs 17,600 crore.