 "Vodafone Idea")
Vodafone Idea’s (Vi’s) net loss widened by 7.5 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs. 7,837 crore in the April-June quarter of 2023-24 (Q1FY24) because of increased expenses. A year ago, the telecom company had reported a net loss of Rs. 7293.3 crore.
Sequentially, the performance was even worse as the telco’s net loss widened by 22 per cent. The cash-strapped company witnessed a spike in finance cost and sluggish rise in operational revenue.
Net sales of the company stood at Rs. 10,610.4 crore, up 1.9 per cent Y-o-Y and just 1 per cent sequentially. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) stood at Rs. 4,157 crore, down 1.2 per cent Y-o-Y from Rs. 4,210 crore.
The average revenue per user (ARPU) for the June quarter rose to Rs. 139 from Rs. 135 in the preceding quarter. The company said this was primarily aided by migration of subscribers to higher ARPU plans.
Vi's 4G subscriber base continued to grow for the eighth consecutive quarter and stood at 122.9 million customers, up from 122.6 million in the preceding quarter. However, the company lost 4.5 million subscribers over the quarter, and had a total of 221.4 million customers at the end of June, as compared to 226 million at the end of March.
“The eighth consecutive quarter of growth in average daily revenue, ARPU, and 4G subscribers clearly reflects our ability to effectively operate and compete in the market,” Vi’s Chief Executive Officer Akshaya Moondra said in a statement. “We remain engaged with our lenders for further debt fundraising as well as with other parties for equity or equity-linked fundraising, to make required investments for network expansion, including 5G rollout.”
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Total gross debt (excluding lease liabilities and including interest accrued but not due) stood at Rs. 2.1trillion at the end of Q1, including deferred spectrum payment obligations of Rs. 1.33 trillion and adjusted gross revenue (AGR) liability of Rs. 66,860 crore that are due to the government.
The company reported sustained high data usage per broadband customer at 15.7 Gb/month with total data traffic for the quarter under review witnessing a sequential growth of 3.5 per cent. The overall broadband site count stood at around 442,100 at the end of Q1, up by around 1,000 4G sites, the company said.
