Increased revenue reduces Vodafone Idea loss

India's telecom service provider Vodafone Idea (VI) has reported its consolidated loss to £729.7 million for the June quarter. It is a marginal narrowing as compared to £7,31.9 million loss reported year-ago period, as tariff hikes boosted its realisations. The company informed that Ravinder Takkar will take over as chairman with effect from August 19, and that Himanshu Kapania will step down as non-executive chairman. Vodafone Idea’s revenue from operations grew to about £1.04 billion in the June quarter, improving nearly 14% from the year-ago period.
 
Average revenue per user (Arpu) is a key monitorable for telecom players. Vodafone Idea's Arpu stood at Rs 128 per subscriber for the quarter compared to Rs 104 in the previous year. This represented an improvement of 23. 4% year-on-year, helped by tariff hikes.
 
Vodafone Idea CEO Ravinder Takkar said that the company has acquired sufficient spectrum in key markets to offer superior 5G experience to customers. “We also completed the first tranche of fund-raising in the form of preferential equity contribution of £494 million from our promoters,” Takkar said. The company continues to remain engaged with lenders and investors for further fund-raising. Its revenue growth at 13.7% was the “highest since the merger between Vodafone and Idea” in 2018.