Vodafone Idea, the debt-laden telecom company, narrowed its consolidated net loss in Q2 to Rs 7,175 crore from Rs 8,737 crore last year. The telco had reported a net loss of Rs 6,432 crore in the previous quarter.

The telco's revenue from operations increased sequentially 4 percent to Rs 10,932.2 crore from Rs 10,508.3 crore.

Customer ARPU (ex M2M) improved to Rs 166 vs Rs 154 in Q2, up 7.8 percent on a QoQ basis, driven by tariff hike.

Total subscribers stood at 205 million, with 4G subscribers at 125.9 million, down from 126.7 million in Q1FY25. The overall subscriber base, including 4G, was affected by recent tariff hikes. In the postpaid segment, the company claimed to increase its customer base on a QoQ and YoY basis.

The telco's quarterly cash EBITDA stood at Rs 23.20 billion, up 10.5 percent sequentially. Since the merger, this is the highest quarterly cash EBITDA in the last six years.

Customer revenue increased by 5.6 percent compared to last quarter, aided by the recent tariff hikes undertaken by all private operators. On a reported basis, EBITDA for the quarter was Rs. 45.5 billion.

Cash EBITDA, excluding Ind AS 116 impact, improved to Rs 23.2 billion, the highest since the merger, growing by 10.5% QoQ.

Capex spend for Q2FY25 was Rs 13.6 billion vs Rs 7.6 billion in Q1FY25. The expected capex for H2FY25 is Rs. 80 billion.

Akshaya Moondra, CEO of Vodafone Idea Limited, said, “Post the successful capital raise, we kicked off our 4G expansion drive on an accelerated trajectory. We expanded 4G data capacity by 14 percent and 4G population coverage by 22 million, and consequently, our 4G speeds improved by 18 percent."

During the quarter, the telco finalised long-term capex contracts worth $3.6 billion to three global partners Nokia, Ericsson and Samsung for the supply of network equipment over next 3 years.

"On the debt raise, we remain engaged with our lenders for tying up debt funding towards the execution of our network expansion with planned capex of Rs. 500 to 550 billion over next 3 years. The impact of recent tariff interventions can be seen in improved ARPUs and
revenue for the quarter, though the full impact will be reflected over the next couple of quarters. Further tariff rationalization is needed for the industry to fully cover its cost of capital," Moondra said.

The telco said its debt from banks and financial institutions reduced by Rs 45.8 billion during the last one year (was at Rs 78.3 billion in Q2FY24) and stood at Rs 32.5 billion. The cash and bank balance was Rs 136.2 billion as of September 30, 2024.

The payment obligations to the Government stood at Rs 2,122.6 billion as of September 30, 2024 including deferred spectrum payment obligations of Rs. 1,419.4 billion and AGR liability of Rs. 703.2 billion.