Vodafone India operating profit down 10.2% in FY17

NEW DELHI: India’s second largest wireless operator by subscribers, Vodafone India reported has reported a 10.2 per cent dip in its operating profit at Rs. 11,784 crore for fiscal year (FY) 2017.

The company's service revenue declined marginally by 0.5 per cent to Rs 42,956 crore for the reported fiscal as compared to Rs 43,169 crore in the same period last fiscal.

“Amidst an unprecedented and intensely competitive environment, we delivered a stable performance while recording a strong gain of 0.7ppt in RMS YTD Dec 16; increasing our customer base past the 200 million subscriber mark; and expanding our Vodafone SuperNet 4G presence to 2,400 towns by utilizing the spectrum bought during the year, We continue to delight and reward customers with innovative and meaningful value propositions including SuperHour, exciting 4G offers, richer content under Vodafone Play and added benefits for Vodafone RED customers. We remain committed to playing our role in enabling Digital India by fulfilling the evolving needs of increasing volumes, speed and innovative solutions for both retail and enterprise customers,” said Sunil Sood, Managing Director and CEO, Vodafone India.

The British telecom major's revenue grew 5 per cent to Rs 8,467 crore in FY17 as compared to Rs 8,074 crore last year whereas 10 million broadband users were added during the year to close at 37.7 million 3G/4G subscribers.

The company has rolled out 11 towers every hour for the year*; Amongst the largest global networks with over 141,000 total sites.

The company had also expanded Vodafone SuperNet 4G footprint across all circles where Vodafone won 4G spectrum contributing more than 95% of Vodafone Data Revenue; now available across 2400 towns.

The company had invested Rs 8,311 crore during the fiscal and its net debt was Rs 60,200 crore as of March 31.

On March 20, 2017,Vodafone Group Plc announced the merger of Vodafone India and Idea, creating the largest telecoms operator in India.