Growth in voice minutes helped Vodafone India clock in a 14% higher sequential revenue for the third quarter to ?1,125 million (R9,393.75 crore), from ?990 million (R8266.5 crore) in the quarter ended September.?The company did not report the profit figures for the quarter.
On a year-on-year basis, the UK-based telecom major?s Indian arm saw its revenue rise 9.9%. Data revenue grew by 23.8% driven by an increase in customers taking data ?bundles and an increase in 2G data pricing. As of December, active data customers came up to 33.1 million, including 2.5 million 3G subscribers.
The company?s messaging revenues fell 16% to ?41 million from ?49 million, while other service revenue more than doubled to ?201 million during the quarter. However, growth during the quarter was 2 percentage points lower than the previous quarter primarily due to impact of regulatory changes.
?During the quarter subscriber verification regulations were changed, leading to a sharp fall in gross customer additions which resulted in net customer disconnections. Regulation was also introduced to further limit the processing fees that operators can charge,? the company said in a statement.
The company has been in a tussle with the government over the past few months. Vodafone India has been slapped with an income tax demand notice of R11,200 crore on acquisition of Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa?s stake in its Indian telecom business in 2007. Vodafone said it is ?engaged in dialogue with the Indian government to explore whether a solution to this matter can be found.?
Indian tax authorities have also issued an order alleging that Vodafone India under-priced its shares issued to a Mauritius-based group company by around R1,300 crore.
Vodafone?s global quarterly revenue was down 2% at ?11.38 billion, impacted by difficult market conditions in southern Europe. Vittorio Colao, CEO, said, ?Our results continue to reflect very difficult market conditions in Europe. We are addressing this through firm actions on cost efficiency, and continuing to invest in areas of growth potential.?
