Idea Cellular reports 6.7 percent revenue growth in Q1 2012





Idea Cellular registered a 6.7 percent revenue growth during the quarter ended June 30, 2011 on a sequential quarterly basis.



 



The company has reversed the two year declining Average Realised Rate (ARR) trend with a marginal improvement of 1 percent in ARR to 41.0 paise for the quarter against 40.6 paise in the previous quarter.



 



Idea Cellular carried 108.6 billion minutes on its network, registering a growth of 6.5 percent compared to previous quarter and remained among the top 10 global operators in terms of voice minutes of usage.



 



The company improved standalone EBITDA margin by 1.2 percent on a QoQ basis to 23.4 percent, primarily driven by the strong performance in established service areas, helping it to absorb the higher losses from new service areas.



 



The growth in EBITDA margin was achieved inspite of higher network opex, by better cost management mainly related to lower subscriber acquisition, servicing, advertisement and business promotion expenses.



 



As expected, with the introduction of 3G services in this quarter, additional expenses of amortisation of 3G spectrum fee (Rs 656 million) and charging of related interest cost (Rs 1,228 million) has impacted the profits.



 



On a standalone basis, the Profit After Tax (PAT), for the quarter stands at Rs 1,541 million compared to Rs 2,576 million in the previous quarter.



 



Idea continues is leading the wireless market in terms subscriber quality with over 92 percent of its base on VLR (as per TRAI, 31st May’11 release). With a net gain of over 930,000 subscriber (as on 24thJuly, 2011), Idea also leads the industry w.r.t. Mobile Number Portability.



 



Idea Cellular is expanding its 3G footprint and currently covers over 825 towns in 15 service areas, which includes bilateral roaming arrangement for the service areas of Mumbai, Bihar, Karnataka, Delhi, Kolkata and Tamil Nadu (Including Chennai), with leading quality operators.



 



The company stays committed to reach to 3,000 towns across India by the end of this financial year, through a combination of home network and roaming arrangements.



 



The service area specific strategy of consolidating its leadership position in Established Service Areas and cautious expansion in New Service Areas, has helped Idea to remain competitive in tough market conditions. The improving capacity utilisation, increasing brand power and generation of healthy Cash Profits with a strong balance sheet, underscore Idea’s ability to benefit from long term sector opportunities.





By Telecomlead.com Team
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