Vodafone Idea Q4 Results: Net loss widens to Rs 7,675 crore dragged by high debt

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Vodafone Idea’s net loss for the fiscal fourth quarter, FY24, widened sequentially to Rs 7,675 crore, dragged by high debt and even as it continued to lose subscribers.

A joint venture between UK’s Vodafone Group Plc and India’s Aditya Birla Group, reported its highest ever quarterly EBITDA of Rs 2,180 crore post merger which occurred in 2019.

Vi’s average revenue per user (ARPU) — a key performance metric — rose 0.7% sequentially to Rs 146.

Akshaya Moondra, CEO, Vodafone Idea Limited, said “We are pleased to report annual revenue and EBITDA growth for the second consecutive year on the back of consistently improving performance for last several quarters despite significantly lower investments; a clear reflection of our execution capabilities."
«We registered growth in ARPU and 4G subscribers for 11 successive quarters.” he said in its earnings statement Thursday.

Quarterly revenue also fell, albeit marginally, amid continuing customer losses, underlining its continuing inability to compete with bigger rivals, Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel. It reported a revenue decline of 0.6% to close the quarter at Rs 10,610 crore.
The loss-making telco ended the March quarter with a lower user base of 213 million compared with 215 million in the October-December quarter.

But the telco’s total 4G base climbed to 126.3 million in the March quarter. Subscriber churn declined sequentially to 3.9%.

The telco’s shares closed 0.3% lower at Rs 13.15 on the BSE Monday. The quarterly results were announced after market hours.