Vodafone India is eyeing mobile internet business as the next big segment and plans to invest heavily in order to capatalise data growth. The company announced its half yearly results for the current fiscal and reported a jump of 13.5 per cent in its service revenue at Rs 18,480.9 crore against Rs 16,282.6 crore during first half last fiscal. Vodfone’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBIDTA) also grew by 30.6 per cent to Rs 6,519.1 crore against Rs 4,993 crore during H1 FY13.
Talking about company’s future strategies, Marten Pieters, Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of Vodafone India said, “There are 65 million internet users of which 85 per cent access internet via mobile and with the sales of smart phones rising exponentially, we aim at improving our data business. We also plan to focus on quality of customer acquisition, customizing services to meet consumer’s needs and to expand our 3G network across the country.”
Mobile data currently contributes Rs 1,541.9 crore which is nearly 9 per cent of the total revenue of the company. Talking about increasing data’s contribution towards total revenue, Pieters said, “Three years back there was no revenue from data segment but now it contributes 9 per cent of our total revenue. Going forward we are expecting much higher revenues from mobile internet.”
Vodafone India also plans to spend an additional 700 million pounds or about Rs 7,100 crore in the next 2-3 years, mainly on rolling out 3G networks. This amount will be in addition to Rs 4,000-6,000 crore annual investments the company plans to make.
Country’s second largest telecom operator also reported a huge rise in its operating free cash flow (OFCF) by 41.2 per cent to Rs 4,770.6 crore during H1 FY14. Commenting of the impressive half yearly performance, Pieters added, “We continue to show a healthy revenue growth driven by price hardening, an exponential growth in data and a solid subscriber base. Our focus on profitable growth has led to a strong margin improvement and to a strong operating free cash flow.”