New Delhi : Idea Cellular, India’s third largest telecom operator by subscribers, reported a 7 % increase in net profit at Rs 809.26 crore for the July-September quarter, helped by non-voice revenue growth. The company, however, witnessed a decline in voice usage and pressure on mobile data. Idea, part of the Aditya Birla conglomerate, had reported a net profit of Rs 755.88 crore for the second quarter of the last fiscal. Total revenue of the company rose to Rs 8,689.06 crore for the reported period, as compared to Rs 7,569.92 crore a year ago, Idea said in a statement. It said voice minutes usage declined to 189.5 billion minutes for the reported quarter as compared to 195.8 billion minutes in the preceding three months (Q1 FY16).
The company said though it was able to contain, on sequential basis, voice rate decline by 0.2 paisa per minute to 32.7 paisa per minute for second quarter but the blended mobile data average realisation per MB fell by 1.2 paisa to 23.4 paisa per MB in the reported quarter.
Idea said its long-term business trends remain robust and the company is on course of its mission of consistent, competitive, responsible and profitable growth.
The net mobile data customer base (2G+3G) has risen by 4.2 million to 41.3 million with 24.8 % of overall Idea subscriber base accessing internet, Idea said.
The higher mobile data usage per data customer at 615 MB (447 MB in Q2 FY15) helped improve the blended mobile data average revenue per user (ARPU) to Rs 144 in (vs Rs 119 in Q2FY15). ARPU of 3G customer stood at Rs 202.
