Extending losses for the third straight session, shares of Vodafone Idea (Vi) dropped over 8% in opening trade on Wednesday after the telecom operator released its December quarter earnings report. The telecom stock has fallen over 14% in three days.

Continuing its losing streak, Vodafone Idea share price declined as much as 8.1% to ₹8.10 on the BSE, while the market capitalisation slipped to ₹58,470 crore. The stock is down 58% from its 52-week high of ₹19.15 touched on June 28, 2024, while it is up 23% from its 52-week low of ₹6.60 hit on November 22, 2024.

Q3 loss narrows, revenue rises marginally

Vodafone Idea released its December quarter earnings report post market hours on Tuesday, posting a consolidated net loss of ₹6,609 crore in Q3 FY25, which narrowed from ₹6,986 crore in the same period last year. On a sequential basis, the losses also come down from ₹7,176 crore in the July-September quarter.

The revenue from operations stood at ₹11,117 crore, up 4% from ₹10,673 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year. On quarter-on-quarter (QoQ), the revenue rose by 1.7% from ₹10,932 crore in the September quarter of FY25.  

Vi’s average revenue per user (ARPU) rose to ₹173 in Q3 FY25, from ₹166 a quarter ago, growing by 4.7% amid tariff hikes and customer upgrading to higher plans.

At the end of December quarter of FY25, the 4G subscriber base of the company stood at 126 million, increasing marginally from 125.6 million in the year ago period. The total subscriber base was at 199.8 million in Q3 FY25, down from 215.2 million in the third quarter of last fiscal.

Plans ₹10,000 cr capex for full FY25

As of December 31, 2024, Vodafone Idea’s debt from banks stood at ₹2,330 crore, which reduced by ₹5,290 crore during the last one year from ₹7,620 crore in Q3 FY24. The cash and bank balance stood at ₹12,090 crore as of December 31, 2024.

During the quarter under review, the capital expenditure spend was ₹3,210 crore, taking the total for the nine months to ₹5,330 crore. For the full year, the capex has been pegged at around ₹10,000 crore to accelerate network rollout in the last quarter of the current fiscal.

“We are driving investments and the velocity of capex deployment is set to accelerate in the coming quarters. Concurrently, the phased rollout of 5G services is underway, targeting key geographies,” says Akshaya Moondra, CEO, Vodafone Idea.

He said that the telcom expects further improvement in both operational and financial performance with intensifying investments. “With the recent equity infusion of ₹1,910 crore from one of our promoters, we have now secured approximately ₹26,000 crore in fresh equity capital over the past 10 months. In parallel, we continue to engage with lenders for debt financing, aligning with our planned network expansion investment of ₹500–550 crore over a three-year period.”

The government’s decision on the bank guarantee waiver underscores its ongoing support for the telecom sector, he added.

Recently in January this year, Vi raised ₹1,910 crore by allotment of 170 crore equity shares at an issue price of ₹11.28 per share to Vodafone Group (promoter) entities on a preferential basis. Post this, the aggregate shareholding of the promoter group in VIL has increased from 37.3% to 38.8%. During last 10 months, Vi has raised equity of ₹26,000 crore, including ₹18,000 crore from the largest FPO in India. This include promoters infusion of ₹4,000 crore and conversion/equity issuance to key vendors of ₹4,000 crore. 

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