Vodafone India’s service revenue fell 3.9 per cent to £1,510 million during the April-June quarter from £1,569 million in the year-ago quarter.
Organic service revenue for the June quarter rose 6.4 per cent from the year-ago period, buoyant on better voice revenues and reduced regulatory impacts.
The company also said preparations continue for a potential Initial Public Offering of Vodafone India, but did not provide details.
“Excluding regulatory drags, including mobile termination rate cuts, roaming price caps and an increase in service tax, service revenue grew 7.7 per cent compared with 10.2 per cent in the fourth quarter of the prior fiscal year,” the company said in a statement.
Data browsing revenue growth of 22.3 per cent slowed from the pace of prior quarters, reflecting lower customer growth. The telecom operator’s active data customer base rose to 69.7 million from 66.8 million one year ago.
The 3G and 4G customer base grew to 32.3 million, up 46 per cent, and smartphone penetration in the four biggest urban areas now stands at 54 per cent. Voice revenues returned to growth as competition eased, despite lower average minutes of use per customer.
The total number of mobile customers rose 1.4 million giving a closing customer base of 199.4 million.
Vodafone added 3,300 new 3G sites in the quarter, increasing the total to 59,000 and population coverage to 96 per cent of target urban areas. The telecom service provider now has 9,700 4G sites with coverage of areas accounting for 45 per cent of its data revenue, across five key circles. The company expects 4G coverage to increase to over 60 per cent of data revenue by the year-end, it said.