Idea Cellular first quarter net dips 12 %
30 Jul 2011
Hurt by amortisation of 3G spectrum fee and interest costs following 3G services launch, GSM service provider Idea Cellular reported a 12-per cent decline in consolidated net profit at Rs177.26 crore for the first quarter ended 30 June 2011.
The Aditya Birla group firm's finance costs more than doubled to Rs246 crore, while its tax provisioning jumped more than 10 times to Rs77.80 crore, it said in a statement.
The company had reported a net profit of Rs201.4 crore for the quarter same period in financial year 2010-11.
In comparison, Vodafone Essar posted a 9-per cent growth in revenue at Rs7478.83 crore (£1.03 billion) for the first quarter ended June 30, 2011, helped by an increase in customer base. The company's India Service revenue grew by 16.8 percent, driven by a 29.8 per cent increase in the customer base, stabilising mobile voice pricing in the market and 70.4 percent growth in data revenue.
Bharti Airtel, the country's leading GSM operator, will announce its results on 3 August 2011.
''With the introduction of 3G services in this quarter, additional expenses of amortisation of 3G spectrum fee (Rs 65.6 crore) and charging of related interest cost (Rs 122.8 crore) has impacted profits,'' said the company in a press release.