The Hindu Business Line : Reliance Comm standalone profit rises 76%

Mumbai, July 31 Reliance Communications’ said its stand-alone first quarter net profit rose by 76 per cent as its subscriber base expanded and higher realisations per minute kept average revenue per user stable.

The stand-alone net profit for the quarter stood at Rs 837 crore against Rs 474 crore for the corresponding year-ago quarter, said a statement from the company to BSE.

Total income for the quarter rose by 18 per cent to Rs 3,229 crore (Rs 2,732 crore).

On a consolidated basis, RCom said its net profit more than doubled to Rs 1,221 crore (Rs 513 crore); while total revenues were up 32 per cent at Rs 4,304 crore (Rs 3,250 crore)

Across businesses

EBITDA grew 62 per cent to Rs 1,814 crore, while the EBITDA margin expanded to 42 per cent from 37 per cent a year ago, a news release from RCom said.

Profitability increased across all its businesses, it said. The wireless business gained 3.87 million subscribers during the quarter, bringing the customer base to 32 million.

Average revenue per user was stable at Rs 375 per month.

Revenues from this division rose by 39 per cent to Rs 3,373 crore, while the EBITDA margin rose to 40 per cent from 36 per cent.

Global business

RCom’s global business, undertaken through FLAG Telecom, saw long distance volumes rise 40 per cent to over 7 billion minutes. EBITDA from this business rose 14 per cent and the margin was recorded at 25 per cent up from 23 per cent.

On the broadband front, the company doubled its access lines to over 7 lakh. Orders too doubled and revenues grew 69 per cent, while EDITDA doubled to Rs 184 crore. The margin was 48 per cent (39 per cent)

The company’s capex for the fiscal is Rs 10,000 crore. Network expansion will take its service to 23,000 towns and over six lakh villages. Twenty five per cent of this capex has already been committed, said RCom.

The company’s shares rose by 3.99 per cent on BSE, to close at Rs 558.8 on Tuesday.