Partly M'sian Axiata owned Idea Cellular profit beats estimates

MUMBAI: India's Idea Cellular Ltd
reported its fourth straight quarter of earnings growth, riding on
strong customer additions and a court decision that removed some smaller
competitors from the market.
Revenue rose 13 percent to 60.6 billion rupees at the company, which is part-owned by Malaysia's Axiata Group Bhd .
Older
companies such as top carrier Bharti Airtel and Vodafone's India unit
as well as Idea have benefited from a court order last year that revoked
permits awarded in a scandal-tainted sale, causing several smaller
rivals to either fold up or cut back operations.
Idea, part of
the Aditya Birla conglomerate, said consolidated net profit rose to 3.1
billion rupees ($57 million)in its fourth quarter through March from 2.4
billion a year ago.
Analysts had on average expected a net profit of 2.8 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Revenue rose 13 percent to 60.6 billion rupees at the company, which is part-owned by Malaysia's Axiata Group Bhd .
Idea,
which said it would pay its first ever dividend of 0.30 rupees per
share, ended the quarter with 121.6 million subscribers, compared with
112.7 million a year ago.
The company's expansion comes despite
the mobile sector being dogged by regulatory uncertainty, including
surcharges on existing airwaves owned by operators and the government's
demand that they stop providing 3G data services through roaming pacts
among each other.
Bharti Airtel and Idea earlier this year raised
call prices by withdrawing offers and cutting discounts as they face
higher costs.
According to StarMine SmartEstimates, which weighs
analyst forecasts according to their accuracy, Idea Cellular is expected
to achieve revenue growth of 12.8 percent over the next 12 months,
higher than peers Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communication, forecast at
10.7 percent and 7.7 percent respectively.
($1 = 54.3762 Indian rupees) - Reuters