Reliance Comm Q3 PAT seen down 20% at Rs 200 cr

Revenues are seen going up by 4% to Rs 5,240 crore from Rs 5,040 crore quarter-on-quarter. 

EBITDA is likely to increase to Rs 1,700 crore from Rs 1,605 crore during the same period.

EBITDA margin is seen improving at 32.44% in the October-December quarter of FY12 versus 31.8% in the previous quarter.

Wireless performance

Revenues are seen going up by 3.2% to Rs 4,560 crore from Rs 4,417 crore quarter-on-quarter.

EBITDA is likely to go up at 1,230 crore from Rs 1,175.6 crore. EBITDA margin is expected to be at 27% versus 26.6%.

Operational parameters

-Minutes of network growth seen at 2-3%

-RPM at 45.1p vs 45p

-Minutes of usage at 228 versus 227

-Average revenue per user at Rs 102 versus Rs 101

Q3 is a seasonally strong quarter = Watch for pricing and volume growth

- Bharti's volume growth at around 1% was a big disappointment as Q3 is a seasonally strong quarter

- Both Idea and Bharti showed strong RPM improvement

- Last quarter RCOM increased volumes by 1.6% when peers reported a decline in volumes. This quarter volumes were strong for Idea at 7.3% and tepid for Bharti at 1% 

- Margin improvement to be limited on increase in selling and ad costs during festive season

- Increase in depreciation and amortisation expenses on account of 3G rollout and forex losses due to rupee depreciation to continue to impact profitability.