Telecom operator Idea Cellular’s net profit declined by 39 per cent to Rs 575.6 crore in the last quarter of 2015-16 due to a spike in finance costs. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 941.77 crore in the January-March quarter of 2014-15 financial year.

The company’s revenue, however, increased by 12.6 per cent to Rs 9,483.85 crore during the reported quarter, compared to Rs 8,422.51 crore in the same period of 2014-15.

The company’s net debt as on March 31, 2016, stood at Rs 38,750 crore, including all deferred payment liability to be paid to government for spectrum purchased in auctions.

Idea Cellular reported over two-fold jump in finance charges at Rs 808.05 crore in January-March 2015-16, from Rs 291.65 crore in the year-ago period.

For the year ended March 31, 2016, the company’s consolidated net profit declined by 3.5 per cent Rs 3,079.93 crore from Rs 3,192.91 crore a year ago. The consolidated annual revenue for the financial year 2015-16 increased 13.9 per cent to Rs 35,980.95 crore from Rs 31,570.89 crore in previous fiscal.

The company realisation of revenue from voice calls and data per minute also declined sharply.

Idea reported voice realised rate of 33.3 paise per minute compared to 33.9 paise a minute it registered in same quarter a year ago. The realisation of revenue from data service declined to 22.9 paise per megabyte from 44.8 paise per MB during quarter under review.

With addition of 4G services, the company recorded mobile data consumption at 82.2 billion MB in the fourth quarter of financial year 2016 and 298 billion MB throughout the fiscal on its network.

“With reduced consumer promotions this quarter, the subscriber and volume growth was slower,” Idea said.

The company could add 1.9 million net quarterly subscriber addition taking its total customer base to 183.8 million at the end of March 2016.

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