Reliance Communications posts smaller than expected profit fall

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Telecoms company Reliance Communications posted a smaller than expected 14.9 percent drop in quarterly net profit on Friday despite squeezed margins in its highly competitive domestic market.

The company reported a net profit of 1.71 billion rupees ($25.29 million) for its financial third quarter to Dec. 31, against 2.01 billion rupees a year earlier.

Analysts' consensus forecast was for net profit of 1.65 billion rupees, according to data compiled by Thomson Reuters.

Third-quarter revenue fell 3.1 percent year on year to 52.98 billion rupees.

($1 = 67.6150 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Himank Sharma; Editing by David Goodman)