Debt-ridden telecom operator Vodafone Idea on Tuesday reported widening of its consolidated loss to Rs. 7,990 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2022. The company had registered a loss of Rs. 7,234.1 crore in the same period a year ago.
The consolidated revenue from operations of Vodafone Idea (VIL), however, increased by 9.29 percent to Rs. 10,620.6 crore from Rs. 9,717.3 crore in the December 2021 quarter.
“On a YoY basis, revenue growth is strong at 9.3 percent aided by improvement in subscriber mix, tariff intervention and 4G subscriber additions,” the company said in a statement.
The government during the quarter converted Rs. 16,133 crore interest related to deferment of spectrum auction instalments and AGR dues into equity, and now holds around 33 percent stake in the company.
“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,” VIL CEO Akshaya Moondra said.
VIL’s average revenue per user, a key performance indicator of telecom operators, improved by 17.4 percent on a year-over-year basis to Rs. 135 during the December 2022 quarter from Rs. 115 a year ago on account of tariff hikes and migration of subscribers to unlimited tariff plans.
