Reliance Communications (RCom) has reported a 77.3 per cent fall in consolidated net profit for the second quarter ended September 30, as its numbers in the corresponding year-ago period were buoyed by a one-time writeback of ₹441 crore related to business restructuring.

Net profit went down to ₹153 crore against ₹675 crore for the year-ago quarter. Profit before operations, other income, finance costs and exceptional items was down 16.2 per cent to ₹768 crore. Revenue dipped 1.3 per cent to ₹5,287 crore (₹5,361 crore)

However, on a sequential basis, the telecom operator registered a 16 per cent increase in net profit. According to a press statement, RCom’s EBITDA margin of 33.8 per cent is the industry’s highest.

RCom has managed to improve its performance on key operational parameters, except minutes of usage. Revenue per minute improved 1.4 per cent (to 44.4 paisa), while average revenue per user inched up 0.7 per cent (to ₹137).

Total minutes of usage came down 1 per cent to 102.1 billion. The company said this was in line with industry trends due to ‘seasonality factors’. The July-September period is a quarter for the industry, as frequent power cuts and network outages during the rains hit traffic growth.

RCom also reported an increase in data subscribers and higher data usage. Total data traffic stood at 65,778 million MB, up 19 per cent q-o-q and 75 per cent y-o-y. It said it has the highest usage per subscriber in the industry at 752 MB, up 12.9 per cent q-o-q. Net debt stood at ₹36,334 crore.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW