Vodafone Idea Q1 FY25 results: Net loss narrows to Rs 6,432 crore

Arpu remains stagnant; telco sees 4G subscriber base grow

Vodafone Idea (Vi) on Monday reported a net loss of Rs 6,432 crore in the April-June quarter (Q1) of 2024-25 (FY25), down nearly 18 per cent from the Rs 7,840 crore loss seen in the corresponding quarter of 2023-24 (FY24), due to lower interest and financing costs. On a sequential basis, the firm’s net loss shrank 16.1 per cent, down from Rs 7,675 crore in the preceding quarter.

The telecommunications company’s (telco’s) interest and finance costs shrank to Rs 5,262 crore in Q1, down 17.6 per cent from Rs 6,376 crore in the same quarter of the previous year. The telco’s revenue from operations fell by 1.38 per cent in the latest quarter, coming in at Rs 10,508 crore, down from Rs 10,655.5 crore in Q1FY24.

The average revenue per user (Arpu) for the quarter stood at Rs 146, the same as the fourth quarter (Q4). It had been Rs 145, Rs 142, and Rs 139 in the first three quarters of the previous financial year, respectively. On a year-on-year basis, Arpu was up 4.5 per cent.

Q4 marked the twelfth successive quarter of 4G subscriber additions, the company said. The 4G subscriber base rose to 126.7 million, marginally up 0.3 per cent from the 126.3 million users registered in the preceding quarter. However, the company continued to lose customers to larger rivals, Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, ending Q1 with 2.5 million fewer subscribers. This is slightly lower than the 2.6 million subscriber loss registered in the preceding quarter. However, the rate of churn has continued to reduce, given that it had lost 4.6 million users in the third quarter of FY24.

Debt reduces

The total payment obligations to the government stood at Rs 2.09 trillion at the end of Q1, including deferred spectrum payment obligations of Rs 1.39 trillion. The company also had an adjusted gross revenue liability of Rs 70,320 crore owed to the government.

In a major respite for the telco, the debt from banks and financial institutions was reduced to Rs 4,650 crore in Q1, down from Rs 9,200 crore a year ago.

"After the recent equity raise, we are in the process of expanding our 4G coverage and capacity as well as launching 5G services. Some capital expenditure (capex) has already been ordered and is under execution, based on which we expect a 15 per cent increase in our data capacity and an increase in 4G population coverage by 16 million by the end of September 2024,” Chief Executive Officer Akshaya Moondra said.

He said the telco is engaged with lenders for tying up debt funding towards the execution of our network expansion with a planned capex of Rs 50,000-55,000 crore over the next three years.