Vodafone India revenue down 3.4%

Data growth also slows down to 22.3%

Vodafone India has reported a 3.4 per cent drop in revenue to £1,519 million (Rs 13,342 crore) for the first quarter ended June 30, mainly on account of lower roaming income and cut in mobile termination rates.

The country’s second largest mobile operator had reported revenue of £1,573 million in the same period last year.

The company also witnessed a slower growth in data revenue compared to earlier quarters. Vodafone said its data browsing revenue growth at 22.3 per cent slowed from the pace of prior quarters, reflecting lower customer growth.

In the same quarter last year, the data revenue had grown by 65 per cent. Analysts had already predicted a lower growth in data revenue for mobile operators. However, organic service revenue growth improved to 6.4 per cent against 5.3 per cent in the previous quarter as voice revenue returned to growth and regulatory impacts came down.
 

The company said its active data customer base increased to 69.7 million from 66.8 million a year ago. Its 3G/4G customer base grew to 32.3 million, up 46 per cent, and smartphone penetration in its four biggest urban areas is now 54 per cent.

However, voice revenue returned to growth as competition eased, despite lower average minutes of use per customer. Total mobile customers increased 1.4 million, giving a closing customer base of 199.4 million.

Vodafone added 3,300 new 3G sites in the quarter, taking the total to 59,000 and its population coverage to 96 per cent of target urban areas. It has 9,700 4G sites with coverage of 45 per cent of data revenues across five key circles.

“We expect 4G coverage to increase to 60 per cent of our data revenues by the year-end, ahead of the upcoming spectrum auction,” the company said. It added the preparations for its much-delayed initial public offering was underway, but it did not offer a time-frame.