Idea's caller tune goes awry

Idea Cellular is currently the top loser on the BSE, down over 3.5% at Rs.140 and this is after gthe stock opening much higher and then going on hit an intra day high at Rs.149.

The stock initially reacted positively to the Q3FY14 numbers where its consolidated net profit came in at Rs.468 crore, up 104% on a YoY but sequentially, the growth was more muted at 4%. Its net revenue also rose 18.5% (YoY) at Rs.6613 crore and again QoQ, the growth was up just 4.5%. The market reacted to the staid sequential numbers, dipping into the red. The EBITDA margin for the quarter came in marginally lower at 31.1% v/s 31.2% (QoQ).

Sequentially, the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) came in at Rs.169 v/s Rs.164 and this was up by Rs.11 on YoY. The average revenue per minute (ARPM) was also dull at 44.9 paise v/s 44.7 paise. Its minutes of usage was a bit better at 376 v/s 368, taking the total minutes to 144.5 billion v/s 138.8 billion. Data volumes rose 108% and data revenue as a percentage of service revenue improved from 3.8% to 9.5% (YoY).

Idea removed incidental and accidental data users from its reportage, hence reducing its overall mobile data user base to 25.5 million. Its 3G subscriber base stands at 8.7 million, as it added more than half of it in the past year.