Reliance Communication's net profit rises 34%

Riding on the rising data usage in India, Reliance Communications (RCom) has posted consolidated net profit of Rs177 crore for the first quarter ended 30 June.

R Com's net profit registered a 34 per cent rise, compared with Rs 132 crore recorded during the same quarter a year ago.

The company controlled by billionaire Anil Ambani recorded a total income of Rs5,541 crore from Rs5,523 crore recorded during the same period a year, the company said in a statement.

The Mumbai-based company's total data traffic grew 68 per cent to 92.8 billion MB on a year-on-year (YOY) basis on rise in data subscribers and higher data usage per customer.

Its total data customer base grew 23.8 per cent on a YOY basis to 35.4 million, which includes 17.9 million 3G customers.

RCom's minutes of usage (a metric to gauge the financial strength of a company) rose 1.8 per cent to 105 billion, while average revenue per user rose 2.0 per cent to Rs 140 on a YOY basis. Its blended realisations per minute (RPM) hardened to 44.5 paise up 1.6 per cent from 43.8 paisa.

The company's India operations revenue rose 1.5 per cent to Rs4,791 crore (Rs4,718 crore), while global revenues rose 4.1 per cent to Rs1,117 crore (Rs1,073 crore).

Non-voice contribution improved to 26.4 per cent, compared with 24.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2015.

At present, the company has 35.4 million data subscribers, out of which 17.9 million are 3G subscribers, which means more than 50 per cent of mobile Internet users on the RCom network are 3G users.

RCom carried 92.8 billion MB of data traffic, a 67.9 rise on a YoY basis, while it continues to be focused on deleveraging through monetisation of tower and fibre assets, and achieving business growth through our various initiatives, it said.