Reliance Communications (RCom) has posted a 2.7 per cent rise in consolidated net profit at ₹108 crore, falling below estimates, during a seasonally strong third quarter.

The telecom company, controlled by billionaire Anil Ambani, had posted a net profit of ₹105 crore during the comparable quarter a year ago.

The company’s revenues rose 1.9 per cent to ₹5,403 crore (from ₹5,301 crore during the same period a year ago, while EBITDA rose 11.6 per cent to ₹1,845 crore (₹1,653 crore) during the quarter under review, RCom said in a statement.

“We are chasing a profitable growth by eliminating free minutes and promotional schemes, and this is reflecting in our Revenue Per Minute (RPM) and Average Revenue Per User (ARPUs),” said RCom President and Chief Executive Officer (Wireless Business) Gurdeep Singh.

Key metrics rise “It has been below estimates considering this was a strong quarter. The company’s RPMs and ARPUs – the key financial metrics – have increased considerably,” said Ankita Somani, research analyst (IT and Telecom) at Angel Broking.

The operator, which straddles both GSM and CDMA technologies, posted a 5.1 per cent rise in RPM (a key financial metric) 43 paise from the year-ago period. Its ARPUs, another financial metric, rose 11.6 per cent to ₹125 by the end of the quarter.

The company’s total data traffic rose 85.2 per cent to 41,702 million MB on a year-on-year basis. The Mumbai-headquartered company garnered 36.2 million data customers, including 11.1 million 3G, by December-end.

At present, RCom’s GSM and data put together, its growth engine, is 71 per cent of India revenues.

“We see this increasing to 80 per cent in the next 18 months or so,” Singh added. Ahead of the announcement, RCom shares closed down 1.10 per cent at ₹125.30 on Friday, while the main index closed up 0.32 per cent.

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