JIO HEAT: VODAFONE INDIA NET DIPS 10%

Vodafone India on Tuesday reported a 10.2 per cent dip in its operating profit to R11,784 crore for the financial year 2016-17, mainly on account of tough competition from the latest entrant, Reliance Jio. Vodafone’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda), or operating profit, stood at R13,115 crore for 2015-16.

Vodafone India, the country’s secondlargest mobile operator, on Tuesday reported a 10.2 per cent dip in its operating profit to R11,784 crore for the financial year 2016-17, mainly on account of a tough competition from the latest entrant, Reliance Jio.

Vodafone’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda), or operating profit, stood at R13,115 crore for 2015-16.

However, due to stable performance on the data front and subscriber additions, the telco’s service revenue declined by a marginal 0.5 per cent to R42,956 crore for the reported financial year, compared to R43,169 crore the previous year.

The entry of Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio, which has offered a lot of freebies to its subscribers, has hurt the financial performance of all the incumbent telecom operators, including Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular.

Vodafone India, which has already announced a merger with Idea Cellular, said its data (browsing) revenue grew five per cent to R8,467 crore in FY17 as compared to R8,074 crore the previous year. Ten million broadband users were also added during the year to close at 37.7 million 3G/4G subscribers.

The company’s overall data users, including 2G subscribers, stood at 66.9 million. However, the data average revenue per user declined to ~140 in Q4 of FY17 as compared to ~160 in Q4 of FY16 due to free data offer by Jio.

“Amidst an unprecedented and intensely competitive environment, we delivered a stable performance…increasing our customer base past the 200-million subscriber mark; and expanding our Vodafone SuperNet 4G presence to 2,400 towns by utilising the spectrum bought during the year,” said Sunil Sood, managing director and chief executive, Vodafone India.

Vodafone India’s subscriber base grew to 209 million and its revenue market share stood at 22.7 per cent as on Q3 of FY17. Vodafone invested R8,311 crore during 2016-17 and its net debt stood at R60,200 crore as of March 31.

“AMIDSTAN UNPRECEDENTED AND INTENSELY COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT, WE DELIVERED A STABLE PERFORMANCE… INCREASING OUR CUSTOMER BASE PAST THE 200-MN SUBSCRIBER MARK; AND EXPANDING OUR VODAFONE SUPERNET 4G PRESENCE TO 2,400 TOWNS BY UTILISING THE SPECTRUM BOUGHT DURING THEYEAR”

SUNIL SOOD

MD & CEO, Vodafone India