Vodafone Idea (Vi), on February 11, 2025, reported a net loss of Rs 6,609 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2024, compared to a net loss of Rs 6,985.9 crore in the same period the previous year. The third-largest telecom operator's revenue from operations stood at Rs 11,117 crore in Q3FY25, up from Rs 10,673 crore in Q3FY24.
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ARPU
Vi reported a total subscriber base of 199.8 million, with an ARPU of Rs 163 as of December 31, 2024. "We increased our 4G population coverage by around 41 million, reaching 1.07 billion by the end of Dec 2024 compared to 1.03 billion in Mar 2024," the company said, adding that it is on track to achieve its 4G population coverage target of 1.1 billion by march 2025 and plans to further increase it to 1.2 billion, covering around 90 percent of the population.
"The 4G subscriber base stood at 126 million at the end of Q3FY25, increasing from 125.6 million as of Q3FY24. Customer ARPU (ex M2M) improved to Rs 173 vs Rs 166 in Q2FY25, up 4.7 percent on QoQ basis, driven by tariff hike and customer upgrades," Vi said in its report.
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5G Rollout
Vi announced that the commercial launch of 5G services in Mumbai is planned for March 2025 and Delhi, Bangalore, Chandigarh and Patna for April 2025.
"We are driving investments and the velocity of capex deployment is set to accelerate in the coming quarters. Concurrently, the phased rollout of 5G services is underway, targeting key geographies. We are pleased to report highest quarterly cash EBITDA since merger of Rs 2,450 crore, registering a YoY growth of 15 percent. With our intensifying investments, we anticipate further improvement in both operational and financial performance," Akshaya Moondra, CEO of Vodafone Idea Limited, said in a statement.
Moondra added that with the recent equity infusion of Rs 1,910 crore from one of Vi's promoters, the telco has now secured approximately Rs 260 billion in fresh equity capital over the past 10 months.
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Vi is continuing to engage with lenders for debt financing for planned network expansion investment of Rs 50,000–55,000 crore over a three-year period. "The government's decision on the bank guarantee waiver underscores its ongoing support for the telecom sector—a critical pillar of Digital India’s future," he added.
Capex spending for Q3FY25 was Rs 32.1 billion, taking the capex for the nine months to Rs. 53.3 billion. The telco said its network rollout will accelerate further in Q4FY25 with the full-year expected capex of around Rs 100 billion.
"The debt from banks reduced by Rs 52.9 billion during the last one year and stood at Rs 23.3 billion (was at Rs. 76.2 billion in Q3FY24). The cash and bank balance stood at Rs 120.9 billion as of December 31, 2024," the telco said in its statement.
