Telecom major Vodafone India today said its revenue has grown 13.3 per cent to Rs 17,580 crore for the six months ended September 30, 2012.

Vodafone India revenues, which includes standalone, its subsidiaries and proportionate consolidation of Indus Towers (42 per cent), stood at Rs 15,510 crore in the same period last year.

The company did not disclose the profit numbers for the first half of 2012-13.

“We achieved a revenue growth of 13.3 per cent...We have been able to improve our operational profit margin to 28.4 per cent as a result of our increasing operating efficiency based on scale and lower customer acquisition cost,” Marten Pieters, Managing Director and CEO, Vodafone India said here.

He added that while revenue growth has been impacted by some of the regulatory measures, lower customer acquisition cost has been a positive for the finances of the industry, which is already battling high operational costs and lower returns.

British telecom giant Vodafone Group reported a dip of 0.4 per cent in global organic service revenue as earnings from southern Europe fell 9.8 per cent. Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific (AMAP - including India) grew 5.2 per cent, while North Europe grew 1.5 per cent.

India service revenue rose by 13.5 per cent, driven by a 5.3 per cent increase in the customer base, strong growth in incoming and outgoing mobile voice minutes and two per cent growth in the effective outgoing rate per minute.

Vodafone India’s capex was lower at Rs 1,700 crore in the April-September 2012 period compared to Rs 2,430 crore in the same period last year due to economic slowdown and uncertain regulatory outlook.

The company registered 39 per cent growth in operating free cash flow at Rs 3,380 crore as compared to Rs 2,430 crore in the same period last year.

While there has been a drop in minutes (182 billion in Q2 against 188 billion in Q1) due to decline in subscribers and seasonality in Q2, the average revenue per minute remained stable at 44 paise driven by prudent pricing in first half.

Though Pieters declined to make specific comments on the ongoing 2G auction, he said driven by the outcome of the auction and licence extension, “there will be a lot of clarity” in the regulatory environment going forward.

“In the last few months we have seen a lot of decisions being made by the government, which is good. But a lot more needs to be done,” he added.

Talking about one-time spectrum fee, Pieters said the government needs to create a level playing field between private operators and state-run entities — BSNL and MTNL.

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