Vodafone Idea Limited (Vi) has announced the financial results for quarter ended March 31, 2022. As per the press release, the revenue for the fourth quarter (Q4) stood at Rs 102.4 billion, witnessing a quarter-on-quarter (Q-o-Q) improvement of 5.4 per cent and year-on-year (Y-o-Y) growth of 6.6 per cent. The growth observed by the operator was mainly on account of several tariff interventions including the recent tariff hikes taken by the operators in November 2021. Also, the average daily revenue for the quarter witnessed a Q-o-Q growth of 7.7 per cent, highest since the merger.
On a reported basis, earning before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the quarter stood at Rs 46.5 billion. EBITDA excluding Ind AS 116 impact for the quarter improved to Rs 21.2 billion, compared to Rs 16.2 billion in Q3 FY’22 driven by improvement in revenue which is partially offset by higher subscriber acquisition costs due to higher gross additions during the quarter. The Q4 period had one-off of Rs 1.5 billion primarily in network and information technology (IT) costs.
Meanwhile, capital expenditure (capex) spend for Q4 FY’22 was recorded to be Rs 12.1 billion as against Rs 10.5 billion in Q3 FY’22. However, the total capex spend for FY’22 stands at Rs 44.9 billion as against Rs 41.5 billion in FY’21. Besides, the total gross debt (excluding lease liabilities and including interest accrued but not due) as of March 31, 2022 stood at Rs 1,978.8 billion, comprising of deferred spectrum payment obligations of Rs 1,138.6 billion, adjusted gross revenue (AGR) liability of Rs 659.5 billion that are due to the government and debt from banks and financial institutions of Rs 180.7 billion. Cash and cash equivalents were recorded at Rs 14.6 billion and net debt stood at Rs 1,964.2 billion.
During the quarter the company continued to invest in 4G to increase its coverage and capacity. During the year, Vi added approximately 27,000 4G FDD sites primarily through refarming of 2G/3G spectrum to expand its 4G coverage and capacity as well as continued to upgrade our core and transmission network. The overall broadband site count of the telco stood at 455,264 as of March 31, 2022 compared to 452,650 a year ago. The telco has shut down approximately 32,000 3G sites during the year while adding over 35,000 4G sites. Till date, Vi has deployed nearly 70,400 TDD sites in addition to the deployment of approximately 13,900 massive-MIMO sites and around 13,200 small cells. Further, Vi continued to expand its LTE 900 presence in 12 circles at multiple locations, including through dynamic spectrum refarming, to improve customer experience.
Commenting on the financial results, Ravinder Takkar, MD and CEO, Vi, said, “We are pleased to announce third consecutive quarter of revenue growth driven by tariff interventions taken in November 2021. While the overall subscriber base has been impacted primarily on account of the tariff increase, the 4G subscriber base continued to grow on the back of superior data and voice experience offered by Vi GIGAnet. We are in the process of creating differentiated digital experience for our customers and added several new digital offerings across various genres during the quarter. We successfully completed first tranche of fund raising in the form of preferential equity contribution of Rs 45 billion from our promoters. We continue to actively engage with lenders and investors for further fund raising.”
