On the back of lower finance cost and tariff hike in July, Vodafone Idea on Tuesday posted a smaller-than-expected net loss at Rs 6,609.3 crore during the October-December quarter. Its net loss in the preceding quarter was Rs 7,175.9 crore.

However, the company missed Bloomberg consensus estimates on both revenue and Ebitda front. Revenues during the quarter stood at Rs 11,117.3 crore, marking a 1.7% sequential increase, but below Bloomberg’s estimate of Rs 11,363 crore. Ebitda for the quarter rose 3.57% sequentially to Rs 4,712.4 crore, but also fell short of the estimated Rs 4,808 crore.

Vi’s subscriber base continued to shrink, dropping to 199.8 million from 205 million in the September quarter as the telco struggled to retain users. The number of data subscribers across all services (2G to 5G) fell to 134.2 million from 134.9 million in Q2. However, average revenue per user (Arpu)(excluding enterprise customers) grew 4.2% sequentially to Rs 173, up from Rs 166 in the previous quarter, driven by the residual impact of the July 2024 tariff hikes and an improved customer mix. Postpaid subscribers rose to 25.2 million, up from 24.5 million in Q2.

Vodafone Idea reported its highest quarterly cash Ebitda since the merger, at Rs 2,450 crore, reflecting a YoY growth of 15%. CEO Akshaya Moondra expressed optimism about future performance, citing ongoing investments and a recent equity infusion of Rs 1,910 crore from a promoter, bringing the total fresh equity raised over the past 10 months to Rs 26,000 crore.

Vi continues to engage with lenders for debt financing as it eyes a three-year investment plan of Rs 50,000–55,000 crore for network expansion. Moondra also highlighted the government’s decision on a bank guarantee waiver as a sign of ongoing support for the sector.

Vi’s 4G data capacity grew by 24% during the quarter, with 4G population coverage increasing by 41 million to reach 1.07 billion. However, its 4G subscriber base saw only a marginal sequential increase of 0.1 million. The company reaffirmed its plans for a commercial 5G launch, with services set to begin in Mumbai by March, followed by Delhi, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, and Patna in April 2025.

Capex spending for Q3FY25 surged to Rs 3,210 crore, significantly higher than Rs 1,360 crore in Q2. The company expects total capex for FY25 to be around Rs 10,000 crore.

Vi’s debt from banks and financial institutions declined sequentially by Rs 920 crore and year-on-year by Rs 5,290 crore, standing at Rs 2,330 crore as of Q3FY25. The company’s cash and bank balance stood at Rs 12,090 crore, down from Rs 13,620 crore in Q2.

Government payment obligations stood at Rs 2.27 lakh crore as of December 31, 2024, including deferred spectrum payments due until FY2044 and AGR dues payable until FY2031.

While Vi expanded its 4G coverage, several key data usage metrics declined sequentially. Total data consumption dropped to 5,859 billion MB from 5,992 billion MB in the previous quarter. Per capita data consumption fell to 15.53 GB from 15.76 GB in Q2.

Total minutes of use declined to 360 billion (Q2: 365 billion), though the average minutes per customer saw a slight increase to 593 minutes from 587 minutes in Q2.