Vodafone reports operating profit of Rs 6,534 crore

Mumbai: Vodafone India on Tuesday reported an operating profit of Rs 6,534 crore in the six months through September, up 6.3 percent year-on-year, making it the second largest income and profit centres for the British telecom major globally.

Vodafone, the single largest foreign investor in the country pumping in Rs 1.11 lakh crore since its entry in February 2007, has reported an 11.2 percent rise in total revenue at Rs 22,902 crore, MD and CEO Sunil Sood said here.

The second largest mobile operator with over 188 million users, which is looking at "going public at the earliest when the time is conducive," has reported a 30 percent margins driven data revenue, which constitutes a little over 20 percent of the total income, Sood said.

When specifically asked about the IPO plans, which has been in the making for many years now, given the many multi-billion dollar tax disputes it has with the government, including an international arbitration, Sood said, "I don't think any longer both (public issue and tax rows) are interlinked as we have won two tax cases in the courts."

Sood attributed the healthy set of numbers "to the rise in data revenue that jumped 60 percent to Rs 3,979 crore which is 18.9 percent of the total revenue, and customer additions, especially the 3G and 4G ones, and stable ARPU (average revenue per user) which rose to Rs 204."

He further said, "We remain committed to fulfil the evolving needs of our customers and leverage our global experience plus rich understanding of the country to play a meaningful role in enabling Digital India."

Operating cash flow more than three times to Rs 2,922 crore in the reporting period from Rs 830 crore a year ago.

Sood told PTI that this revenue and operating profit makes Vodafone India the second largest revenue and profit centre for the British telecom major after Germany. In terms of revenue, the Indian arm contributes around 12 percent of the group income. He, however, did not share the profit share.

Vodafone India also has the largest data traffic market by volume and one of the largest global networks with more than 1,32,000 tower sites, he said.

When asked about whether they are open to takeovers, Sood parried a direct answer saying whatever it takes "to drive our revenue and service quality we are open to that including spectrum trading and spectrum sharing if we get at the right price.

"It is not necessary that we've to be physically present with spectrum in every circle. What we need is spectrum, so we are very much open to acquire it through any means provided the price is right."