Reliance Comm Oct-Dec profit up 9.6% at Rs 171 cr

The country’s fourth largest mobile operator by subscribers and revenues, the Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications on Friday said its net profit during the October-December period stood at Rs 171 crore, up 9.6% compared to the preceding quarter, helped by an uptick in subscription and usage for its high margin internet-services, and a better performance at its global operations.

During the period, the company’s consolidated revenue, however, declined 1.1% to Rs 5,298 crore from Rs 5,355 crore during the preceding quarter, hurt by fall in its Indian operations.

The “revenue decline is on account of 2G licence expiry in 5 circles. We have successfully migrated the profitable customers to 3G in these 5 circles and achieved significant improvement in network coverage and quality through ICR arrangements with Vodafone and Aircel,” the company said.

During the quarter, Rcom’s average revenue per minute for voice call increased 0.9% sequentially to 45.2 paisa, despite a 2% decline in usage during the same period to 100.4 billion minutes, the company said.

The decline was compensated by a higher usage of internet services which increased 6% sequentially to 103.2 billion megabits, and internet subscribers increased 4.3% during the period to 38.8 million users. This in turn helped the average revenue per user per month, which increased by 2.9% to R142 per user, the company said.

The company’s overall Ebitda margin during the quarter expanded to 34% from 33.3% sequentially, helped by the data services. Reliance Communications global operations also fared better during the three months through end of December, with its revenue increasing by 4.1% quarter-on-quarter to Rs 1,106 crore, the company’s statement added.

Reliance Communications (RCOM)