Vodafone Idea (Vi) has become infamous in the market for its poor performance for a long time. The company’s financials just can’t seem to take a break. The telco just released its financial reports for the year ending March 31, 2021. Vi has registered a significant drop in average revenue per user (ARPU) in the last quarter of FY21. From an ARPU of Rs 121 in Q3 FY21, the number dipped to Rs 107 in Q4 FY21. Further, the telco saw a higher subscriber churn rate of 3% in the last quarter as compared to 2.3% in the Q3 FY21. The drop in ARPU is significant but not surprising given the removal of Interconnect Usage Charges (IUC) from January 1, 2021.
Vodafone Idea’s Loss Increased
With the lowering ARPU and higher subscriber churn rate, the loss for the third-largest telecom operator of the country has increased. Vodafone Idea had posted a loss of Rs 45,408 million in Q3 FY21. But the loss has increased to Rs 69,851 million in the last quarter.
The telco has incurred a total loss of Rs 442,331 million in the entire FY21 and its net worth stands negative at Rs 382,280 million. In the report that Vodafone Idea submitted to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the telco said that it is currently in talks with potential investors over fundraising.
For the unaware, Vi’s board had already approved a Rs 25,000 crore fundraising plan last year. But the telco has been unable to garner interest from any institutional investor who would be happy to lend the proposed amount.
Vodafone Idea’s Adds 4G Subscribers
Regardless of everything that went bad for the telco in the last quarter, it has been able to add new 4G subscribers. As per the report released by Vi, its 4G subscribers stood at 113.9 million at the end of Q4 FY21 as compared to 109.7 million at the end of Q3 FY21.
However, the telco’s total subscriber base dropped to 267.8 million at the end of Q4 FY21 from 269.8 million at the end of Q3 FY21. The biggest highlight and the sign of worry for the telco is its dropping ARPU. Hopefully, the telco can recover fast on the back of its high capacity and fast 4G networks.
