Uninor, owned by Norwegian firm Telenor, has reported a 19 per cent year-on-year increase in revenue for first quarter of financial year 2015. Further, the company has improved its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and ammortisation by 40 per cent compared to the corresponding period in 2014.
As per PTI, the company registered an operating loss of about Rs 1.27 billion for the first quarter ended March 31, 2015. In contrast, the operator had posted a profit of about Rs 15.61 billion a year ago on account of refund of licence fee from the Indian government. Further, the operator?s revenues for the first quarter of 2015 stood at Rs 11.07 billion.
Commenting on the financial results, Vivek Sood, chief executive officer, Telewings Communications Services (Uninor), said, ?Uninor had a strong first quarter with 19 per cent growth in revenues and the subscription base being 26 per cent higher than the same quarter last year. We have maintained our growth trajectory in voice and internet services. The low cost operating model and excellence in managing network capacities allows Uninor customers to use much higher volumes of voice and internet traffic at price points substantially lower than market.?
Sood added, ?In the Indian context ability to provide SabseSasta voice and Internet services is a position to build scale and move towards profitable growth. Network expansion last year is also yielding traction amongst customers for voice and internet service.?
Uninor, which operates in six telecom circles – Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh East and West added about 1.8 million subscribers during the first quarter of 2015 and its subscriber base at the end of the quarter stood at 45.5 million.
The operator?s average revenue per user (ARPU) declined by seven per cent to Rs 98 in the first quarter of 2015 on annual basis. According to Uninor, the ARPU decline has been on account of lower voice consumption and reduction of mobile termination charges by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. However, APRUs have been partly compensated by increase in data usage.
Uninor has also increased its retail and distribution footprint in the country. At present, the operator has over 365,000 points of sale and about 1,600 branded retail outlets. Over the next nine months, Uninor plans to establish 500 retail outlets.
Going forward, Uninor plans to launch telecom services in Assam, where it acquired airwaves in the spectrum auctions held in 2014.
