Impacted by continued competition and seasonality, Vodafone India has posted a 15.8 per cent fall in service revenues, at ₹19,002 crore, for the first six months (H1) of the financial year, ended September 30, against ₹22,579 crore in the year-ago period.

The telecom operator’s EBITDA plummeted 39.2 per cent to ₹4,075 crore during the April-September period from ₹6,704 crore recorded during the first half of the previous financial year.

EBITDA margins also declined to 21.4 per cent from 29.6 per cent in H1 of FY17, the company said in a statement.

The company blamed continued price competition from new operator RJio and incumbents, seasonality and the Goods and Sales Tax (GST) for the decline in financial metrics.

“We see signs of positive developments with consolidation of smaller operators. We remain committed to playing our due role in enabling Digital India by fulfilling the evolving needs of increasing volumes, speed and connectivity solutions from both retail and enterprise customers,” Vodafone India Managing Director and CEO Sunil Sood said in a statement.

For the second quarter ended September 30, Vodafone India’s service average revenue per user (ARPU), a key financial metric, stood at ₹146. “Stiff price competition” was still impacting ARPU, it said.

The company’s data usage grew by about 250 per cent in the second quarter, it added.

Idea merger On the earlier announced merger with Idea Cellular, the country’s third-largest mobile operator said it is on track and expected to be completed in calendar year 2018.

“In India, competition remains intense. There are, however, signs of positive developments in the Indian market, with consolidation of smaller operators and recent price increases from the new entrant.

“We are making good progress in securing regulatory approvals for our merger with Idea Cellular and in monetising our tower assets,” said Vittorio Colao, Group Chief Executive at Vodafone.

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