 "Idea Cellular posts 64% profit rise in Q3 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 Rs 767 crore in its third quarter, compared with Rs 470 crore in the same quarter last year.
Analysts, on average, were expecting the company to earn Rs 793 crore, 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 Rs 10 to Rs 179 in the quarter, Idea said.
The company's total revenue rose to Rs 8,017 crore, up from Rs 6,613 crore last year.