Vodafone India revenue down 4.7%, courtesy Jio’s free services and demonetisation

Vodafone India’s revenue went down 4.7% at Rs 10,556 crore during October-December 2016 period from Rs 11,077.63 crore in the same period a year ago, mainly impacted by Reliance Jio’s free services and demonetisation, which led to shortage of currency in India.

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The telco’s voice revenue also declined 3% in the quarter, while data browsing revenue growth in India slowed down to 0.6% in the third quarter, against 16 per cent in second quarter.

The slowed growth drove a quarter-on-quarter decline in our active data customer base to 65 million, from 69.6 million in second quarter, mainly reflecting fewer 2G user, the telco said.

Vodafone Group Chief Executive Vittorio Colao, in a statement, said that the company’s strong organic performance in South Africa and Turkey was partially offset by India, where the sector is affected by free services from the new entrant.

Vodafone India is currently in a process of expanding its 4G services to 17 leading circles, a move aimed at countering intense competitive pressure, which will intensify further. The telco aims to make its services available in 2,400 towns across the country by March 2017. These 17 circles cover 91% of Vodafone India’s total revenues and 95% of mobile data revenues.

“Our 3G and 4G customer base declined slightly quarter-on-quarter to 35 million, and smartphone penetration is 35 per cent,” Vodafone said in a statement.

The country’s second largest telco’s 3G / 4G customer base declined quarter-on-quarter to 35 million. Its overall customer base during the reported quarter reached 205 million.