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Idea Cellular, on Monday, reported a 91% jump in quarterly net profit backed by higher voice call rates, beating market estimates.
The country's third largest telecom operator, which is part of the Aditya Birla Group and close to a fifth owned by Malaysia's Axiata, reported its consolidated net profit at Rs 589 crore during the January-March 2014 quarter, asw compared with Rs 308 crore reported in the corresponding quarter previous fiscal year.
Profit in the October-December 2013 quarter stood at Rs 467 crore, about 26% lower than the fourth quarter of the fiscal year. Consolidated revenue during the January-March quarter increased about 16% to Rs 7043.8 crore as compared with Rs 6061.4 crore in the corresponding quarter previous fiscal year. Revenue in the October-December quarter stood at Rs 6,613 crore.
Average revenue per user (ARPU) for Idea Cellular has increased to Rs 173 during the fourth quarter fiscal year 2013-14 from Rs 169 in the previous quarter. But average realisation per minute, a key parameter that determines telecom companies' financial health, fell 2.8% to 43.6 paisa compared to 44.9 paisa in the previous quarter. However, Idea Cellular's revenue from non-voice services improved to 16.5% of its total revenue during the fourth quarter as compared with 16.1% during the previous quarter, backed by growth in data volume.
Data revenue increased 3.5% to 10.1% the company's overall service revenue during the quarter under review. Idea Cellular also reported an EBITA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) margin increase to 31.7% in the December quarter vs 31.1per cent in the previous quarter.
During the January-March quarter, Idea added 5.1 million new 3G subscribers doubling its total 3G user base to 10.2 million. The 3G user mobile data ARPU remainedsteady at Rs111 per month. However, the company's net debt has more than doubled (an increase of 114%) during the quarter to Rs 19,185 crore, as compared with Rs 8,945 crore reported in the previous quarter.
Idea Cellular, in a statement, has said the increase in debt is due acquisition of fresh spectrum in the February auction. "In this February 2014 spectrum auction the company has committed an amount of Rs 10,424 crore, including upfront payment of Rs 3,143 crore and Rs 7,280 crore as government Deferred Payment Liabilities towards spectrum. The government Deferred Payment Liabilities towards spectrum' is reflecting as debt in ourbooks," Idea Cellular pointed out in the statement.
The company has acquired 5MHz spectrum in 900 MHz band in Delhi circle and fresh spectrum in the 1800 MHz band in eight circles aiming to rollout long-term evolution (LTE) or fourth generation (4G) services in few circles.The results were announced after market hours. On Monday, Idea Cellular gained 0.18% toclose at Rs 140.75 per share on BSE.
