Debt-laden telecom Vodafone Idea on August 12 reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 6,432 crore in the first quarter of the financial year 2024-2025 on back of 4G subscriber additions. The telco has reported a net loss of Rs 7,840 crore in the year-ago period.
Revenue from operations was down 1.3 percent to Rs 10508.3 crore from Rs 10655.5 crore in the June quarter.
The ARPU was Rs 146 in the quarter, up 4.5 percent YoY from Rs 139, primarily due to a change in the entry-level plan and subscriber upgrades.
The 4G subscriber base continued to grow for the twelfth successive quarter. It increased to 126.7 million vs. 122.9 million in Q1FY24, and the total subscriber base stood at 210.1 million.
The telco's Quarterly EBITDA (pre-Ind AS 116) was up 4.2 percent YoY to Rs 2100 crore.
Regarding the recent tariff hike, the telco said it is supporting entry-level users and progressively linking higher prices to higher usage while keeping changes in entry-level plans nominal.
The telco referred International Roaming as a focus area and stated that it expanded its international roaming footprint from 98 to 120 countries over the last year.
Commenting on the results, Akshaya Moondra, CEO, Vodafone Idea Limited, said “Post the recent equity raise, we are in the process of expanding our 4G coverage and capacity as well as launch of 5G services. Some capex has already been ordered and under execution, basis which we expect ~15% increase in our data capacity and an increase in 4G population coverage by ~16 million by end Sep’24."
Moondra said the telco's current Capex needs are being met out of equity funds.
The top executive said the telco is engaged with its lenders to secure debt funding for the execution of its network expansion, which has a planned capex of Rs 50,000 crore - Rs 55,000 crore over the next three years.
“The recent tariff intervention is a step in the right direction for the industry to move towards better return on investment, as also to improve cash generation to support the large investment requirements. However, further tariff rationalization is needed for the industry to fully cover its cost of capital,” Moondra said.
During this calendar year, the telco raised equity funding of Rs 240 billion, including Rs 180 billion via FPO in April’24, Rs. 20.8 billion via preferential issuance to ABG (promoter) entity in May’24, Rs. 24.6 billion via preferential issuance to Nokia and Ericsson in July’24 and Rs. 16 billion via conversion of OCDs between March’24 to July’24.
"This equity fund raise bolsters our capex rollout for building a top quality 4G & 5G network to contribute towards India’s digital transformation. Post these issuances, the Promoters shareholding stands at 37.2% and shareholding of Government of India stands at 23.1%," the telco said in the statement.
The total debt from banks and financial institutions stood at Rs 46.5 billion and Optionally Convertible Debentures at Rs 1.6 billion as of June 30, 2024. The debt from banks and financial institutions was reduced by Rs. 45.5 billion during the last year (was at Rs. 92 billion in Q1FY24). The cash and bank balance stood at Rs 181.5 billion as of June 30, 2024, as per the official statement.
The payment obligations to the Government stood at Rs. 2,095.2 billion as of June 30, 2024, including deferred spectrum payment obligations of Rs. 1,392 billion and AGR liability of Rs. 703.2 billion, the telco said.
Shares of Vodafone Idea on August 12 closed 0.62 percent lower at Rs 16.01 apiece on BSE.
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