Vodafone Idea Q3 losses widen to ₹7,990 cr

Debt-ridden telecom operator Vodafone Idea's net loss widened to ₹7,990 crore year-on-year (YoY) in the October to December period in FY23 as against ₹7,234 crore in the year-ago period. The company’s consolidated revenue from operations during the quarter under review stood at ₹ 10,552.90 crore as against ₹9,644.80 crore in the same period a year-ago.

The cash-strapped telecom operator’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) during the quarter under review stood at ₹41,808 crore against ₹40,975 crore in the same period a year ago. The company’s EBITDA margin stood at 39.4%.

On a sequential basis, the company reported a widening of net loss by 10.4% month-on-month (MoM) against ₹7,595 crore in the July to September quarter in FY23. The company’s consolidated revenue from operations sequentially witnessed a marginal surge of 0.05% against ₹10,614.6 crore in the September quarter in FY22.

The company’s average revenue per user (ARPU) stood at ₹135 per user against ₹115 in Q3 of FY22. During the quarter, the company’s subscriber base stood at 228.6 million, registering a decline by 7.5% YoY against 247.2 million in Q3 of FY22.

“We have issued equity shares to the Government of India recently, consequent to the conversion of the interest related to deferment of spectrum and AGR dues into equity. Separately, our board has approved issuance of Optionally Convertible Debentures amounting to Rs. 16 billion to ATC India. With these positive developments, we continue to remain engaged with our lenders for further debt fund raising as well as with other parties for equity or equity linked fund raising, to make required investments for network expansion and 5G rollout,” Akshay Moondra, CEO, Vodafone Idea said.

Last week, the government agreed to convert the telco’s accrued interest into equity, which will help the cash-strapped company to refinance its existing bank debt and pay vendor dues. The Centre allowed Vodafone Idea to convert its Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) dues, the usage and licensing fee that telecom operators are charged by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), worth ₹16,000 crore into equity shares, which made the government the largest stakeholder in the company. The move came after the government received assurance from the Aditya Birla Group (ABG) to bring in necessary funds.

On Wednesday, the share price of the company was trading marginally higher by 0.9% to hit an intra-day high of ₹7.76 apiece on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). At 11:51 am, the share price of the company was trading at 0.52% higher at ₹7.73. In the last one year, the share price of the company has declined by 27.7%. During the session on Wednesday, the company’s market capitalisation stood at ₹37,298 crore with 32,23,500 shares exchanging hands on the BSE against the two-week average of 461.91 lakh shares.