Vodafone India revenue up 5 per cent to Rs 44, 490 crore in fiscal 2016

NEW DELHI: Country’s second largest wireless operator by subscribers, Vodafone India revenue rose only 5 percent at Rs 44,490 crore for the fiscal ended March 31, 2016.

On the other hand, the telecom service provider had reported a 12.6 percent jump in its total revenue at Rs 42,526 crore in fiscal 2014-15.

“We continue to deliver healthy double digit underlying revenue growth of 10% and a healthy EBITDA margin. There is a strong uptake in data and our usage has gone up 63% YoY. Last year, we also embarked on an ambitious initiative to invest, modernize and expand our network to launch Vodafone SuperNet providing a seamless voice and data experience for our customers.Shortly, our 4G services will be available in 1000 towns across 9 circles in India. We remain committed to fulfill the evolving needs of our customers and leverage our global experience plus rich understanding of India to play a meaningful role in enabling Digital India," said Sunil Sood, Managing Director and CEO, Vodafone India c.

Similarly, the company had reported that its revenue rose only 0.5 percent (reported) and 2.3 percent (organic) to £1,103 million or about Rs 10,897 crore in the third quarter ended December 31, 2015.

Some Key Financial Highlights:

Consistent and strong underlying revenue growth; service revenue (adjusted for regulatory impact) of Rs 46,435 crores in FY16, a growth of 10%

Revenue performance driven by customer additions, stable ARPU and growth in data revenues

EBITDA at Rs13,115 crores in FY16; a healthy EBITDA margin of 29.5%

Strong Operating Free Cash Flow (OFCF) at INR 5,354 crores in FY16 vs. Rs 3,221 crores in FY15

Sustained and prioritized capital investments of Rs 8,010 crores in FY16; (18% of revenues) driven by continued top line growth, maintenance of margin and investment in key focus areas

Good Momentum in Operations

A base of ~198 million customers (growth of 7.7% YoY) serviced through a network of 137,332 total sites, of which 62,673 are 3G+4G sites

Substantial rural presence with a customer base of 106 million in FY16

Growing Revenue Market Share (RMS) at 22.3% (YTD Dec ‘15); gain of 0.1% YoY

Service Revenue ARPM at 51.4 paise and Voice ARPM at 35.3 paise (both Q4FY16) (adjusted for regulatory impact)

Stable Service Revenue ARPU at INR 205 (adjusted for regulatory impact) in Q4 FY16; supported by good quality of subscribers with active subscriber base (VLR) at 96.5% (Mar ‘16 exit)

Robust performance by strategic business areas with Data (Browsing) revenues contributing to 19.2% and Vodafone Business Services now contributing to 15% of Service revenues (both Q4FY16)

Vodafone Business Services (VBS) –a Total Telecommunications Solution Provider; Powering Digital India

VBS growing at 21% YoY, led by strong growth in fixed line and in SME business

Rich experience and expertise in Machine-to-Machine solutions and Cloud Infrastructure

Actively engaged with Public Sector Enterprises and State Governments contributing to the vision of Skill India, Digital India and setting up of smart cities

Good Performance in Data Driving Growth

Data (Browsing) revenue at Rs 8,263 crores in FY16, 45% growth YoY

67.5 million total data users*, of which 44.8million use >1MB and 27.8 million are 3G+4G data users

3G+4G revenues grew by 79% YoY, contributing to 70% to data (browsing) revenue and volume (Q4FY16)

Data usage/sub (for users >1MB) at 679MB and 3G +4G usage/sub at 800 MB/month (both Q4 FY16)

Data ARPU (for users > 1MB) at Rs 163 in Q4 FY16 v INR 141 in Q4 FY15

Data usage and revenue growth led by higher smartphone penetration at 32% of total customer base(Mar ‘16 exit)

Continued to drive data usage through strategic partnerships with handset manufacturers and application providers to provide innovative value propositions and better customer experience

M-Pesa - Driving financial Inclusion and e-commerce

Pan-India footprint, largest business correspondent in the country with over 120,000 authorized agents (equivalent of all bank branches in India), of which 60% are in rural areas (Mar ‘16 exit)

A base of over 5.4 million registered accounts/customers, of which 1.3mn are active customers

New M-Pesa App rated 4.3 on Android Play store - acting as a key business differentiator, to enable convenient payment of bills & recharging on the move

Engaged with Government bodies and enterprises enabling financial inclusion and e-commerce

Increasing engagements for disbursements of pension, salary and subsidy.

RBI’s in-principle Payment Bank license will enable Vodafone M-Pesa to offer a more comprehensive portfolio of banking and financial products and services, accelerating India’s journey into a cashless economy

Other Highlights

Launched new MyVodafone App with intuitive navigation and personalized features – ~7.5 mn downloads and over 4.5mn Unique Users in just 4 months since launch

Institutionalized cross-functional Network War Rooms across circles to improve overall network experience and address the issue of call drops

Vodafone SuperNetTM 4G services to be present across 1000 towns this year with expansion in 4 additional circles of Haryana, Gujarat, UP East and Rest of Bengal

Supported the education of 120,000 girls in Rajasthan in line with our commitment to the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti

Padhao’ Abhiyaan

Set up 20 Digital Literary Centres across 9 States of India and directly impacted 8500+ citizens, comprising mostly of women and young adults

Awards and Recognitions

Ranked No 1 in Telecom at Business Today Best Companies to work for Awards

Vodafone m-pesaTM awarded the ‘Best Mobile Payment Solution’ at the GSMA GLOMO awards at MWC, Barcelona

VBS recognized as chosen leader for Telecom Carrier (Leased Lines & Mobile Access) at CIO Choice 2016 Awards

MyVodafone App featuring Zumis awarded the best TVC for two consecutive months by Mint –Top of Mind Ad Survey