Vodafone Idea Limited’s (Vi) net loss widened to Rs 87.38 billion in the quarter ended (QE) September 30, 2023 as against Rs 78.37 billion in the previous quarter. The company’s revenue increased 0.6 per cent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) to Rs 107.2 billion as compared to Rs 106.55 billion in the previous quarter, driven by improving subscriber mix and 4G subscriber additions.
The company’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the quarter was Rs 42.8 billion and EBITDA margins at 40 per cent. EBITDA excluding IndAS116 impact was at Rs 20.6 billion compared to Rs 20.2 billion in the previous quarter, primarily due to higher network expenses and customer acquisition cost partially offset by the reduction in roaming and access charges. Capex spend for the quarter stood at Rs 5.2 billion.
Meanwhile, the total gross debt (excluding lease liabilities and including interest accrued but not due) as of September 30, 2023 stood at Rs 2.12 trillion comprising deferred spectrum payment obligations of Rs 1.35 trillion and adjusted gross revenue (AGR) liability of Rs 681.8 billion that are due to the government, debt from banks and financial institutions of Rs 78.6 billion and optionally convertible debentures amounting to Rs 16.1 billion. The net debt stood at Rs 2.12 trillion while the debt from banks and financial institution reduced by Rs 72.2 billion during the last one year.
Further, the 4G subscriber base continued to grow for the ninth consecutive quarter and stood at 124.7 million as on September 30, 2023 as compared to 122.6 million in the previous quarter. However, the overall subscriber base declined to 219.8 million from 221.4 million in the last quarter. Average revenue per user (ARPU) improved to Rs 142, up 2.1 per cent QoQ from Rs 139 in the last quarter, primarily aided by migration of subscribers to higher ARPU plans. The telco continued to see high data usage per broadband customer at around 15.7 GB per month with the total data traffic for the quarter witnessing QoQ growth of 3.5 per cent.
Commenting on the results, Akshaya Moondra, chief executive officer, Vi, said, “We are pleased to report another quarter of consecutive revenue growth, improvement in ARPU and 4G subscriber additions. We have also revamped our customer offerings over last few quarters to make our offerings more relevant to the customers with the changing customer needs and evolving industry landscape. We remain focused on our execution to effectively compete in the market. We remain engaged with our lenders for further debt fund raising as well as with other parties for equity and equity linked fund raising, to make required investments for network expansion, including 5G rollout.”
