NEW DELHI: Telecom major Vodafone Idea Ltd’s (Vi) cost optimisation drive seems to be paying off. The company’s third quarter financials, released on Saturday, show that while its gross revenues still remain behind last year’s levels, better operational efficiency and a stake sale in tower infra company Indus Towers has helped it pare down its losses. Stock exchange filings show that VIL recorded a consolidated loss of Rs 4,532.1 crore for the quarter ended December 2020 (Q3FY21), compared to a loss of Rs 6,438.8 crore for the corresponding quarter of the previous year and a loss of Rs 7,218.2 crore during the previous quarter ended October 2020.
The company saw its gross revenues come in at Rs 10,894.1 crore for Q3FY21, lower than the Rs 11,089.4 crore recorded during Q3 of the previous year. However, the company’s revenues have improved steadily on a sequential basis, coming in at Rs 10,659.3 crore in Q1FY21 and Rs 10,791.2 crore in Q2FY21.
Operational expenditure and Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation, and Amortisation (EBITDA) also improved during the quarter, with opex falling to Rs 6,607.9 crore from Rs 7,668.9 crore in Q3FY20 and EBITDA rising to Rs 4,286.2 crore from Rs 3,420.5 crore. “We target to achieve Rs 4,000 crore of annualized cost savings by the end of this calendar year.
Through several initiatives, we have already achieved ~50 per cent of the targeted annualised savings on a run-rate basis by the end of Q3FY21,” Vi said. According to MD and CEO Ravinder Takkar, the company “improved subscriber retention and operating performance, supported by Vi GIGAnet”.
Rs 25-K cr fundraise
The board of the telecom operator also approved fundraising of up to `25,000 crore in a combination of debt and equity, Vi said in a statement. The company is currently in “active discussions with potential investors”. In October, the company had said that it plans to conclude the fund-raise in two to three months at most