Reliance Communications Q4 net profit falls 22% to Rs 177 crore

NEW DELHI: The Anil Ambani-controlled company, Reliance Communications (RCom) has net profit fell 22 per cent to Rs 177 crore in the three months ended March, 2016, compared with Rs 228 crore a year earlier.

The company's total income from operations fell 1.4% to Rs 5,617 crore.

On the other hand, RCom's expenses increased to Rs5,219 crore in the quarter from Rs 4,722 crore in the same period last year, and its finance costs rose to Rs 773 crore from Rs 666 crore.

Consolidated Revenue & EBITDA: RCOM Q4 revenue at Rs.5,919 crore, up 11.7% from Rs. 5,298 crore in Q3. Q4 EBITDA at Rs. 1,959 crore, up 8.6% from Rs. 1,803 crore in Q3.

Net Profit at Rs. 177 crore, up 3.5% from Rs. 171 crore in Q3.

India Operations Revenue & EBITDA: Q4 revenue at Rs. 5,227 crore, up 12.4% from Rs. 4,651 crore in Q3. Q4 EBITDA at Rs. 1,760 crore, up 8.6% from Rs. 1,620 crore in Q3.

Global Operations Revenue & EBITDA: Q4 Revenues at Rs. 1,242 crore, up by 12.3% from Rs. 1,106 crore in Q3. Q4 EBITDA at Rs. 199 crore, up 8.7% from Rs. 183 crore in Q3.

5.Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):

a.RPM: RPM at 47.7 paisa, up 5.5% Q-o-Q

b.MOU: Total MOU at 101.6 billion, up 1.2% Q-o-Q

c.ARPU: ARPU at Rs. 157, up 10.6% Q-o-Q

d.Data Customers: The total data customer base has grown 15.4% Y-o-Y to 38.9 million including 24.2 million 3G customers in Q4.

e.Data Traffic: The total data traffic at 104.7 billion MB is up 20.1% Y-o-Y. The traffic has increased due to increase in data subscribers and higher data usage per customer.

6.Key Developments:

a. RCom announces first consolidation in the Indian telecom sector with the acquisition of the wireless business of Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd.(SSTL):

"We have received shareholders approval at the Court Convened Meeting held on March 8, 2016. We are currently awaiting High Court and DoT approvals, expected to be received in the next few weeks, after which we will announce the complete integration of SSTL into RCom," the company in statement.

b. Consolidation of RCom’s wireless business and Aircel: Based on the substantial progress made to date, the exclusivity period between RCom and the shareholders of Aircel, Maxis Communications Berhad and Sindya Securities and Investments Private Limited, have been mutually extended until June 22, 2016. This potential combination of the Indian wireless business of RCom and Aircel is expected to derive substantial mutual benefits of in-country consolidation, including opex and capex synergies and revenue enhancement.

c. Strategic partnership with Jio to offer 4G services: Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (“RJIL”) and RCom signed agreements for change in spectrum allotment in 800 MHz band across 9 Circles from RCom to RJIL, and for sharing of spectrum in 800 MHz band across 17 Circles. Access to this enhanced spectrum footprint in the 800 MHz band will complement RJIL’s best-in-class LTE services rollout, providing increased network coverage and superior service quality. RCom’s customers will also benefit from access to RJIL’s world class nationwide 4G LTE network under the reciprocal sharing agreements.

d.Launched 4G Wipod upgrade for CDMA customers at affordable prices: We have launched offers for our customers to upgrade their CDMA dongles to 4G WiPod at affordable rates. These WiPods have the ability to connect 31 users at a time and has an inbuilt battery feature that allows users an uninterrupted high speed browsing experience.

e.Reliance NetBuddies – unique referral program for the customers: Reliance NetBudddies is a referral program where GSM customers can refer their friends from other networks and stand to earn data for themselves and their referred buddies. Data is used as a means for participation and conversion, as it has been seen that data usage leads to twice the ARPU versus a voice only customer. Retailers can also participate by driving this program through existing Reliance customers.

f. Launch of ‘T20 – World Cup’ Data Accelerator Campaign: ICC T20 World cup was one of the biggest sports events in India. RCOM had launched “Data Recharge Accelerator Campaign” contest in which the customer got 2MB extra data for every run scored by team India & 4MB extra data in case of India winning the match. Dedicated data recharge MRPs were assigned to each circle & customers were asked to recharge with those MRPs to get extra data as per the contest benefits.

g.Pan India cricket contest around ICC T20 World Cup: ICC T20 World cup was one of the biggest sports event in India. RCOM launched “Predict N Win” contest over IVR & SMS in which a customer could get match commentary, score alerts, schedules & cricket trivia during the match. Also, on participation, lucky customers got an opportunity to win daily recharges, smart phones as well as a cricket kit.

h.Celebrating the Festivals of India: “Valentine Day / Holi and Other regional festivals”: Valentine Day & Holi are the major festivals in Q4 other than regional festivals like Maha Shivratri, Good Friday etc. RCom offered a one stop IVR festival portal catering for all festivals named “Hamara Desh Hamara Tyohar” in which the customer can subscribe for services like Festival stories, Songs / bhajans etc. For Holi, a dedicated WAP portal was designed from where the customer can download Imagery, Songs & Videos. Exclusive Holi movies were made live over movie section of R World.

i.Awarded MEF CE 2.0 Certification: GCX & RCOM Enterprise received the prestigious MEF CE 2.0 certification for Carrier Ethernet. This is the highest standard for Carrier Ethernet in the market today. This certification applies to our Global Ethernet (point-to-point) and Global Ethernet VPLS (any-to-any) services, offering a seamless experience for customers on consistency, functionality and predictable performance.

j.Cloud X Fusion ecosystems extension with direct access to Amazon Web Services: GCX completed extension of its Cloud X Fusion ecosystem with a direct access to Amazon Web Services (AWS) in Singapore, London, Frankfurt and Tokyo, offering enterprise customers a robust cloud solutions that drive new business opportunities. Through GCX’s extensive global network and its comprehensive product portfolio, Cloud X Fusion provides seamless, low latency connectivity across developed and emerging markets in the US, Europe, Middle East and Asia, which gives enterprises the security, the reliability and predictability as they connect to the AWS cloud services while tapping into bandwidth dynamically on a usage-based consumption.

k.Enhanced Presence in Australia & New Zealand: Following significant upgrades of our Global Network across Australia and New Zealand with four new Points of Presence (PoPs) in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Auckland, we also launched our Cloud X platform in Sydney which will enable Enterprise customers across Australia to have on-net access to leading public cloud platforms. In addition, GCX further expanded our global footprint into Australia in partnership with NEXTDC. Our presence at NEXTDC’s M1 Melbourne and S1 Sydney data centres enables customers across Australia and New Zealand have direct connection into GCX’s scalable global IP and MPLS network.

l. GCX expanded its reach across Europe: GCX expanded its reach across Europe with TI Sparkle through a multiservice PoP at SICILY HUB in Palermo which is located closer than any other European peering point to North Africa, the Mediterranean and the Middle East. This further increases our ability to interconnect with major service providers across the regions that have presence in the facility.