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The British company said that growth in voice minutes also helped growth in its service revenue. Revenues from voice revenues reduced marginally by 0.6% to 785 million pounds (Rs 6,531 crore) as compared to 790 million pounds (Rs 6,572 crore) in the same quarter last year.
The growth was also marginally lower than the previous quarter by the impact of new regulations by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). “During the quarter subscriber verification regulations were changed, leading to a sharp fall in gross customer additions which resulted in net customer disconnections.
Regulation was also introduced to further limit the processing fees that operators can charge,said the company, in its results press release. The company has around 147 million subscribers, according to TRAI data.
Similar regulatory issues affected the performance of other telecom companies as well, as subscriber acquisition costs went up due to increased verification. Bharti Airtel's revenues which include its African and other businesses, grew 9.5% year-or-year for the quarter, to Rs 20,239 crore. Idea Cellular's revenues went up 11% to 5,578 crore, while RCom grew much less at five% to Rs 5,301 crore.
Vodafone also said that growth in its tower company Indus Towers was also lower due to reduced tenancies. However, change in reporting norms showed an increase in revenues. Energy costs charged to operators being was included in service revenue for the first time.
Vodafone's data revenues grew by 23.8%, and the company claims that this growth was driven by an increase in customers taking data bundles. The price of 2G date usage also went up. At 31 December 2012, active data customers totalled 33.1 million, including 2.5 million 3G subscribers.
The company also said that it is engaged in dialogue with the Indian government over a possible tax liability on account of purchase of Hutchinson's stake in 2007. The Indian tax authorities have
calculated the tax and interest due at the date of the reminder as Rs 14,200 crore.
