Vodafone Idea, the country’s third-largest telecom operator, on Tuesday said its net loss rose to Rs 7,990 crore in the October-December quarter from Rs 7,595.5 crore in the preceding quarter. The company missed Bloomberg estimates of the net loss narrowing down to Rs 7,440 crore due to higher finance cost, depreciation expenses, and marketing and consumer acquisition cost. It continued to lose subscribers as well.

Consolidated revenues missed estimates and rose marginally to Rs 10,620.6 crore sequentially owing to additions in the 4G subscribers. Bloomberg had pegged revenues at Rs 10,718.50 crore.

The company lost 5.8 million mobile subscribers, taking its subscriber base to 228.6 million at the end of December. Vodafone Idea’s blended churn of subscribers also increased to 4.4% during the quarter compared with 4.3% in July-September.

Owing to weak financial performance in the quarter, high debt levels and muted cash flow position, the auditors of Vodafone Idea continue to flag uncertainty on the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.

“The company’s ability to continue as a going concern is dependent on its ability to raise additional funds as required and successful negotiations with lenders and vendors for continued support and generation of cash flow from its operations that it needs to settle its liabilities as they fall due. Our conclusion is not modified in respect of this matter,” auditor SR Batliboi and Associates said.

At the end of the October-December quarter, Vodafone Idea’s gross debt (excluding lease liabilities and including interest accrued but not due) rose to Rs 2.23 trillion, comprising deferred spectrum payment obligations of Rs 1.39 trillion, AGR liabilities of Rs 69,910 crore that are due to the government, and debt from banks and financial institutions of Rs 13,190 crore.

Due to earlier rating downgrades, certain lenders had asked for an increase in interest rates and additional margin money/security against existing facilities, the company said. By December 2023, the company has an obligation to pay debt of Rs 8,032.8 crore,

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On the operational front, Vodafone Idea’s average revenue per user (Arpu) saw a jump of nearly 3.1% quarter-on-quarter to Rs 133 compared with Rs 131 in the preceding quarter. The growth in Arpu can be attributed to an increase in 4G customer additions, increase in data consumption, and migration of subscribers to unlimited plans. In the December quarter, the company’s 4G subscriber base increased to 121.6 million, a jump of nearly 1% q-o-q.

During the quarter, Vodafone Idea continued to lag behind peers Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio on average data usage per customer. The company’s average data usage per customer was at 15.4 GB, whereas that of Jio was at 22.4 GB, and Airtel at 20.78 GB. However, growth in Vodafone Idea’s data usage per customer was 0.5%, marginally higher than the 0.1% growth of Airtel during the December quarter.

Similar to peers, Vodafone Idea witnessed an increase in the minutes of voice usage per customer per month on the network. The company’s minute of usage on the network rose 2.3% sequentially to 613 minutes. In comparison, Bharti Airtel’s minute of usage per user per month on the network rose 1.1% sequentially to 1,094 minutes and Jio’s average voice consumption on the network rose 1.7% q-o-q to 985 minutes.

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“We are pleased to report sixth consecutive quarter of revenue growth and 4G subscriber addition on the back of superior data and voice experience offered by Vi GIGAnet…With these positive developments, we continue to remain engaged with our lenders for further debt fund raising as well as with other parties for equity or equity linked fund raising, to make required investments for network expansion and 5G rollout,” Akshaya Moondra, CEO of the company, said in a statement.

The company last week issued equity shares worth Rs 16,133 crore to the government with regard to its interest dues on deferment of spectrum and AGR dues. Separately, the company has approved issuance of optionally convertible debentures amounting to Rs 1,600 crore to ATC India.

Vodafone Idea is the only operator which has not declared its plans for 5G rollout yet. “We are in discussion with various network vendors for finalisation of our 5G rollout strategy which can be executed quickly once funding is in place,” the company said.

On Tuesday, Vodafone Idea’s shares ended down 1.3% at Rs 7.75 on the BSE.