RCom profit surges 73% to Rs 801 crore

Telecom service provider Reliance Communications (RCom) posted net profit of Rs 801.24 crore, increase of 73 per cent in the second quarter ended September 30, compared with Rs 461.72 crore recorded during the same quarter of the previous financial year.

The company's total income rose to Rs 3,329.21 crore during the reporting quarter, against Rs 2,838.72 crore in the quarter ended September 30, 2006.

On a consolidated basis, it posted 86 per cent rise in the net profit at Rs 1,304.57 crore during the quarter under review, compared with Rs 702.34 crore during the same period a year ago.

The company's total income rose 30 per cent to Rs 4,578.53 crore from Rs 3,525.98 crore during the comparable period a year ago, RCom said in a release today.

The company's earning before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew 46 per cent to Rs 1,962 crore, while EBITDA margin rose 43 per cent, due to profitability registered across all its businesses such as wireless, global and broadband.

"We are committed to the world's largest telecom network roll-out this year that will enable us to cover 23,000 towns and 6 lakh villages. In addition, we will launch nationwide GSM services within a year of receiving spectrum. We are committed to support strong tele-density growth in India and will be at the forefront of affordable connectivity to 500 million Indians by 2010," said Reliance Communications Chairman Anil Ambani.

RCom added 4.4 million wireless customers during the quarter, taking its total customer-base to over 36 million, while its wireless revenue a minute remained steady at 74 paise.

The company's wireless business revenues rose 45 per cent to Rs 3,723 crore from Rs 2,574 crore.

On the broadband side, the company's number of access lines almost doubled to 7.92 lakh from 4.25 lakh in the corresponding quarter last year. RCom expanded its wireline connectivity to over 6.66 lakh buildings from 2.70 lakh in the corresponding quarter last year.

The company is planning to launch its nationwide GSM services under its existing Universal Access Service Licence (UASL) and the company has paid the requisite one-time fee of Rs 1,651 crore for providing GSM services on a pan India basis.