Vodafone Idea

The company disappointed with numbers coming much below various estimates. For Q3FY13, its consolidated net profit was down 4.6% (QoQ) at Rs.229 crore. This was on a total revenue of Rs.5578 crore, up 5%.  EBITDA was up 3.6% at Rs.1473 though margins were almost flat at 26.4% compared to 26.8% in Q2FY13.  Even till EBIT, it was up, at Rs.590 crore, up 3.5%. But interest outgo of Rs.242 crore, up 12% pushed down the net profit.  It also reported a forex loss of Rs.13.3 crore compared to forex gain of Rs.18 crore in current Q2.

The growth in Q3 was led by a 5.2% growth in Voice Minutes and clocked in 2.9 million VLR subscriber additions compared to 0.6 million in Q2FY13 and this was totally unexpected given the tougher KYC norms now.  But on the other hand, Average Realized Rate per Minute (ARPM) fell 41.1 paise/minute from 41.3 paise/minute on QoQ . TRAIs new VAS regulation pushed down non-voice revenue by 1% and this in turn pulled down the ARPM and this is a big disappointment as rival, Rcom reported rise in revenue per minute.  Higher network operating cost, increased cost of fuel and larger spend on advertising and marketing also exerted pressure on the bottomline.  The company has won spectrum in 7 service areas in the Nov’12 1800MHz spectrum auction, bid at Rs.1985 crore for 20 years.  Its subscriber base currently stands at 114 million of which those opting for data has grown  to 21.75 million, contributing 5.7% to service revenue. Data volume grew 15% and data revenue rose 11% (QoQ). Its 3G subscriber base is at 4.1 million.