Idea Cellular posts 64 pct profit rise to Rs 767.06 cr as subscriber numbers grow

Idea Cellular Ltd posted a 64 percent rise in quarterly profit as it added more subscribers than rivals did, boosting data and talk time usage.

Idea Cellular, the first telecoms carrier to report results for the December quarter, said it earned 7.67 billion Indian rupees ($125.57 million) in its third quarter, compared with 4.7 billion rupees in the same quarter last year.

Analysts, on average, were expecting the company to earn 7.93 billion rupees, Thomson Reuters data showed.

Idea is part of the Aditya Birla conglomerate and about 20 percent owned by Malaysia’s Axiata.

The company has been adding new users at a faster rate than rivals Bharti Airtel and Vodafone India, with 2.58 million users joining it’s network in December.

Monthly average revenue per user (ARPU), a key metric for telecoms carriers, increased by 10 rupees to 179 rupees in the quarter, Idea said.

The company’s total revenue rose to 80.17 billion rupees, up from 66.13 billion last year.

(PTI) Idea Cellular today reported a nearly 64 per cent jump in its net profit at Rs 767.06 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2014 on the back of growth in data volume and voice minutes.

The country’s third largest mobile operator had reported a net profit of Rs 467.73 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal, a company statement said.

Total revenue of the company also rose 21.23 per cent to Rs 8,017.47 crore for the reported period compared to Rs 6,613.06 crore last time.

“During the quarter, Idea carried 170.7 billion minutes on its network, registering 5.1 per cent sequential quarterly growth and 46.1 billion megabytes of mobile data on its 2G+3G platform, with both lines of business delivering strong performance,” Idea said.

Mobile data now contributes 15.7 per cent to service revenue whereas the value added service (VAS) contribution has improved to 23.1 per cent of service revenue, it added.

The company said due to competitive pressures and increased contribution from new service areas, the voice realisation remained under pressure.

“However, 18.4 per cent quarterly jump in mobile data revenue, contributing 15.7 per cent to service revenue, helped Idea improve its average realisation per minute (ARPM) at 46.3 paise in Q3 FY15 (vs 45.9 paise in Q2 FY15).

The average revenue per user for the company increased by Rs 10 to Rs 179 (Q3FY15 over Q3FY14).

Idea said in the calendar year 2014, it added 22.2 million subscribers, the highest addition in the industry.

“Idea continued its journey of strengthening its competitive market standing with Q2 FY15 revenue market share (RMS) at 17.2 per cent, an increase of 1.4 per cent compared to Q2 FY14,” it added.