Jio impact: Vodafone India operating profit down 10% at Rs 11,784 cr

However, firm's service revenue remains flat on steady show on data front, subscriber additions

The country’s second-largest mobile operator Vodafone India today reported a 10.2 per cent dip in its operating profit at Rs 11,784  crore for fiscal year 2017 mainly on account of immense competition from the latest entrant Reliance Jio, whose freebie-loaded plans have shaken the entire telecom services market. Vodafone’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) or operating profit stood at Rs 13,115 crore in FY16.

However, due to stable performance on the data front and subscriber additions, the company's service revenue declined marginally by 0.5 per cent to Rs 42,956 crore for the reported fiscal as compared to Rs 43,169 crore last year.

The entry of billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio has hurt the financial performance of all incumbent telecom operators, including Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular.
 
The company, which has already announced a merger with Idea Cellular, said its data (browsing) revenue grew 5 per cent to Rs 8,467 crore in FY17 as compared to Rs 8,074 crore last year whereas 10 million broadband users were added during the year to close at 37.7 million 3G/4G subscribers.

The company’s overall data users (including 2G subscribers) stood at 66.9 million.
 
However, the data average revenue per user (ARPU) declined to Rs 140 in Q4 of FY 17 as compared to Rs 160 in Q4 FY16 due to free data offer by new entrant Reliance Jio.
 
“Amidst an unprecedented and intensely competitive environment, we delivered a stable performance…increasing our customer base past the 200 million subscriber mark; and expanding our Vodafone SuperNet 4G presence to 2,400 towns by utilizing the spectrum bought during the year,” Sunil Sood, Managing Director and CEO, Vodafone India said.

Vodafone India’s subscriber base grew to 209 million and its revenue market share stood at 22.7 per cent as on Q3 of FY17, a gain of 0.7ppt as compared to Q4 of FY16.

The overall ARPU stood at Rs 158.

Vodafone invested Rs 8,311 crore during the fiscal and its net debt stood at Rs 60,200 crore as of March 31, 2017.