New Delhi, Feb 11 (PTI) Telecom operator Vodafone Idea (VIL) on Tuesday reported narrowing of losses to Rs 6,609.3 crore during the December quarter, as the debt-laden telco clinched a sequential rise in ARPU.
The revenue from operations stood at Rs 11,117.3 crore during the quarter, over 4 per cent higher than the corresponding period last year.
VIL, in its Q3 earnings release, said the commercial launch of its 5G services in Mumbai is planned for March 2025 and Delhi, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, and Patna for April.
On a consolidated basis, the loss for the quarter was Rs 6,609.3 crore as against Rs 6,985.9 crore in the year-ago period.
Customer ARPU (average revenue per user) -- a key metrics for all telcos -- for the third quarter of the current fiscal year stood at Rs 173, up from Rs 166 in the July-September period.
On a sequential basis, this translated into a growth of 4.7 per cent.
Vodafone Idea CEO Akshaya Moondra said the company is driving investments and the velocity of capex deployment is set to accelerate in the coming quarters.
Concurrently, the phased rollout of 5G services is underway, targeting key geographies, he noted.
"We are pleased to report highest quarterly cash EBITDA since merger of Rs 24.5 billion (Rs 2,450 crore), registering a YoY growth of about 15 per cent. With our intensifying investments, we anticipate further improvement in both operational and financial performance," he said.
With the recent equity infusion of Rs 19.1 billion (Rs 1,910 crore) from one of the promoters, the telco now secured about Rs 260 billion (Rs 26,000 crore) in fresh equity capital over the past 10 months, he said.
"In parallel, we continue to engage with lenders for debt financing, aligning with our planned network expansion investment of Rs 500-550 billion over a three-year period. The government's decision on the bank guarantee waiver underscores its ongoing support for the telecom sector -- a critical pillar of Digital India's future," Moondra said.
The telco fared better on its Q3 scorecard on several counts. The losses, on a sequential basis, were down notably from Rs 7,175.9 crore in September 2024 quarter. Revenue was up 1.7 per cent when seen on quarter-on-quarter basis.
The customer revenue increased 1.6 per cent versus previous quarter, aided by the recent tariff hikes undertaken by all private operators, VIL said.
"Capex spend for Q3FY25 was Rs 32.1 billion (Rs 3,210 crore), taking the capex for the nine months to Rs 53.3 billion (Rs 5,330 crore)," it said.
The network rollout will accelerate further in the March quarter with the full year expected capex of Rs 10,000 crore. The debt from banks reduced by Rs 5,290 crore during the last one year and stood at Rs 2,330 crore.
Total subscriber base stood at 199.8 million and 4G subscriber base at 126 million.
"We are on track to achieve our 4G population coverage target of 1.1 billion by March 2025 and plan to further increase it to 1.2 billion that is about 90 per cent of population," it said.
On January 9, 2025, VIL completed the allotment of about 1.7 billion equity shares of face value of Rs 10 each at an issue price of Rs 11.28 per share (including premium of Rs 1.28 per share) for an aggregate consideration of Rs 1,910 crore to Vodafone Group (Promoter) entities on a preferential basis.
As a result of this preferential allotment, the aggregate shareholding of the Promoter Group in VIL has increased from 37.3 per cent to 38.8 per cent.
VIL further said the recent bank guarantee waiver confirms the government's continued support to the telecom sector.
As per VIL, this reform will also ensure that the exposure of the banking system is utilised by telecom operators towards further proliferation of 4G and 5G networks in the country.
Pursuant to the cabinet reforms on telecom and the resultant moratorium till FY25, the spectrum installments (excluding the auctions of 2021, 2022 and 2024), the AGR demands till FY18-19 are part of the four-year moratorium, of which amounts pertaining to some of the years are subject to correction/revision on account of disposal of representations and any other outcome of litigation and the amounts as finally determined by December 31, 2025 are payable in six equal installments post the moratorium period till FY31, according to footnotes of VIL's financial statement.
The group has incurred a loss of Rs 20,217.3 crore during the April-December period, while its net worth stands at negative Rs 1,02,010.9 crore at that date, it said.
As on December 2024, the outstanding debt from banks (including interest accrued but not due) of the group is Rs 2,345.1 crore and deferred payment obligation towards spectrum payable over the years till FY 2044 and AGR (including interest accrued but not due) payable over the years till FY 2031 of the Group aggregates to Rs 2,27,318.3 crore.
The debt from banks includes Rs 1,126 crore reclassified from non-current borrowings of loans to current maturities of long-term debt for not meeting certain covenant clauses under the financial agreements.
VIL said the group has exchanged correspondences and continues to be in discussion with the lenders for next steps or waivers.
Further, VIL said given the recent capital infusions, the company believes it will be able to conclude the negotiations with lenders, vendors, and added with continued support from DoT, including conversion of spectrum and AGR installments post-moratorium into equity, if required, in line with the Telecom Reforms Package of September 2021 and generation of cash flow from operations, that will enable it to settle its liabilities as they fall due. PTI MBI TRB