Aided by a rise in data traffic, Reliance Communications (RCom) has posted a 45.9 per cent rise in consolidated net profit at ₹228 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31. The mobile operator, which straddles both GSM and CDMA services, had posted a net profit of ₹156 crore during the same quarter a year ago.
The operator’s total income rose to₹5,703 crore (₹5,671 crore) during the quarter under review, while its EBITDA (operating profit) rose 6.7 per cent to ₹1,976 crore, the company said in a statement.
During the reporting quarter, RCom’s total data traffic rose 73.6 per cent on a year-on-year basis to 87,211 million MB, on an increase in data subscribers and higher data usage per customer.
The company’s total data customer base rose 26.2 per cent on a y-o-y basis to 33.7 million, including 17.4 million 3G customers, in the fourth quarter. It also recorded the highest data usage per subscriber at 893 MB, up 37.8 per cent a y-o-y basis, it said.
The company, controlled by industrialist Anil Ambani, posted a 2.8 per cent rise in revenue per minute (RPM) at 44.4 paise, while voice RPM rose 0.6 per cent to 33.2 paise.
RCom’s minutes of usage, another financial metric, rose 5.7 per cent from the comparable quarter of previous year to 108.1 billion. It’s average revenue per user rose 14.8 per cent to ₹147.
Shares in RCom closed up 5.28 per cent at ₹67.80 on a strong BSE, which ended up 1.17 per cent on Friday.