Indian cellco Vodafone Idea (Vi) has published gross revenue of INR102.4 billion (USD1.3 billion) for the three months to end-March 2022, up 6.6% compared to the same period of last year, with the provider attributing the uptick in part to tariff increases implemented in November 2021. Indeed, ARPU increased to INR124 from INR115 in the preceding quarter whilst mobile subscriptions declined from 247.2 million to 243.8 million over the same period. Meanwhile, EBITDA improved by 5.5% year-on-year to INR55.9 billion and net loss narrowed to INR65.4 billion from INR72.3 billion in the previous quarter and INR69.9 billion a year earlier.
Commenting on the results, Vi CEO Ravinder Takkar was quoted as saying: ‘We are pleased to announce third consecutive quarter of revenue growth driven by tariff interventions taken in November 2021. While the overall subscriber base has been impacted primarily on account of the tariff increase, the 4G subscriber base continued to grow on the back of superior data and voice experience offered by Vi GIGAnet. We are in the process of creating differentiated digital experience for our customers and added several new digital offerings across various genres during the quarter.’
Vi counted a total of 118.1 million 4G subscriptions as at end-March 2022, up from 117.0 million in December 2021 and 113.9 million in March 2021.