Vodafone Idea Limited (Vi) has announced the financial results for the quarter ended (QE) March 2021.
The company’s loss widened to Rs 70.22 billion during the quarter from Rs 45.32 billion in third quarter (Q3) FY21.
Meanwhile, revenue for the quarter stood at Rs 96.1 billion, a decline of 11.8 per cent QoQ out of which 9.6 per cent was on account of abolishment of domestic IUC effective from January 1, 2021 and 2.2 per cent was on account of lower number of days in the quarter. On a reported basis, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) for the quarter was Rs 44.1 billion, with EBITDA margins at 45.9 per cent vs 39.3 per cent in Q3FY21.
EBITDA excluding IndAS 116 impact was Rs 21.7 billion, compared to Rs 21.1 billion in Q3FY21. This quarter had one-off of Rs 4.5 billion primarily in network and IT costs. Capex spend in Q4FY21 was Rs 15.4 billion vs Rs 9.7 billion in Q3FY21. Total capex spend for FY21 stands at Rs 41.5 billion. Gross debt (excluding lease liabilities) as of March 31, 2021 was Rs 1,803.1 billion, comprising of deferred spectrum payment obligations of Rs 962.7 billion and AGR liability of Rs 609.6 billion that are due to the government and debt from banks and financial institutions of Rs 230.8 billion.
At the end of the quarter, the 4G subscriber base was 113.9 million (vs 109.7 million in Q3), an increase of 4.2 million in the quarter. The data volumes witnessed healthy growth of 8.2per cent QoQ, driven by higher 4G additions.
Commenting on the results, Ravinder Takkar, managing director and chief executive officer, Vodafone Idea Limited, said, “FY21 has been a transformational year for Vodafone Idea with several important milestones achieved including launch of our unified brand “Vi”. In the year of the pandemic, when people and businesses were hugely dependent on telecom connectivity, we delivered superior network experience and improvement in several operating metrics supported by Vi GIGAnet, which remains the fastest 4G network in India, as per Ookla, as well as the network with highest rated voice quality as per TRAI. We enter FY22 with renewed focus on executing our strategy to keep our customers ahead, and our cost optimisation plan remains on track to deliver the targeted savings. We are in active discussion with potential investors for fund raising, to achieve our strategic intent.”
