Telecom operator Vodafone India has reported an increase of 2.3 per cent in revenue growth at Rs. 11,022.27 crore during the three months to December 2015.
Revenue in the same quarter in the previous fiscal stood at Rs. 10,765.89 crore.
“Service revenue increased 2.3 per cent, with quarterly growth rate slowing due to further competitive pressure, impacting both voice and data prices and data customer growth,” Vodafone said in a statement.
In the preceding July-September of 2015, the company’s India revenue had clocked a growth of 5.6 per cent.
“Excluding impact of regulatory changes, including MTR [mobile termination rate] cuts, roaming price caps and an increase in service tax, service revenue grew 7.6 per cent,” Vodafone said.
Average revenue declines
The average revenue the company earns from its customers declined to Rs. 174.9 in the reported quarter, from Rs 189.1 a year ago.
Vodafone, however, said the decline in ARPU (average revenue per user) was offset by an increase in customer base.
“We continued to grow our total customer base, driven by a particularly strong performance in voice, adding 5.4 million customers in the quarter,” it added.
193.6 million customers as of 2015-end
The telecom carrier had 193.6 million customers at the end of December 2015.
“While total voice traffic continues to grow, this was more than offset by a further decline in voice revenue per minute, which fell 9.8 per cent year-on-year as a result of ongoing price competition,” Vodafone said.
The company saw increase in its data business, with data usage on its network reaching 85,231 terabytes from 51,889 TB during the period under review.
Data growth remains strong
“Data growth remained strong, with data usage increasing 64 per cent, supported by an increasing proportion of 3G users, now totalling 25.9 million. However, the rate of revenue growth slowed in the quarter driven by increased price competition,” Vodafone said.
The company under Project Spring added 7,600 new 3G sites in the quarter, taking its population coverage in targeted urban areas to 94 per cent.
4G services in Kerala, Karnataka
“We have also launched 4G services in Karnataka and Kerala and this will be available in further three circles by the end of the year, covering around 45 per cent of our current data revenue,” Vodafone said.
