Uninor Q2 Operating Loss Narrows Down to Rs 70 Cr

New Delhi: Mobile service provider Uninor on Wednesday said its operating loss has narrowed down to 90 million Norwegian krones (about Rs 70.30 crore) in the second quarter that ended on June 30, 2015.

The firm, controlled by Norwegian telecom company Telenor, had reported an operating loss of 170 million Norwegian krones (about Rs 132.91 crore) in the corresponding period a year ago.

The company follows January-December financial year.

However, Uninor reported a positive EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) in the second quarter of the current fiscal year on increased revenues and improved gross margin following mobile termination rate cut.

"This quarter the company registered a positive EBITDA of Rs 18.8 crore," Uninor said in a statement.

Total revenues of the company rose to 1,362 million Norwegian krones (about Rs 1,064.63 crore) for the reported period compared with 1,021 million Norwegian krones (about Rs 798.05 crore) last year.

The average revenue per user (ARPU) declined 12 per cent to Rs 95 in the reported period as compared to last year.

"The decline was primarily driven by lower voice consumption and the impact from reduced mobile termination rate, partly compensated by increased data usage," Uninor said.

Uninor added 1.3 million subscribers during the quarter. The subscription base was 22 per cent higher than the same quarter last year.

The company said 26 per cent of the customers were active data users.

"Our Internet awareness campaigns and initiatives to bring mobile Internet services to the unconnected are yielding good results. We are in the right direction to achieve our target of 50 per cent Internet customers by 2017," Uninor CEO Vivek Sood said.

The company made a capital expenditure of 253 million Norwegian krones (about Rs 197.95 crore) in the reported period mainly related to capacity expansion to cater to increased traffic volumes.

The company offers services in six circles - UP West, UP East, Bihar (including Jharkhand), Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat.