Idea Cellular profit rises 30 percent; beats estimates

REUTERS - Mobile phone operator Idea Cellular reported a better-than-expected 30 percent rise in quarterly profit on Thursday, continuing to win market share through strong subscriber additions.

Older companies such as top carrier Bharti Airtel , Idea and Vodafone's India unit, have benefited from a court order last year that revoked permits awarded in a scandal-tainted sale, causing several smaller rivals to either fold up or cut back operations.

Idea, part of the Aditya Birla conglomerate, said consolidated net profit rose to 3.1 billion rupeesfor its fiscal fourth quarter ended March, from 2.4 billion rupees reported a year earlier. It was the fourth consecutive quarter of earnings growth for the country's No.3 mobile carrier by revenue.

Analysts on average had expected the company to report a net profit of 2.8 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters data.

(Reporting by Aradhana Aravindan; Editing by Matt Driskill and Jijo Jacob)