Revenue during the quarter increased by 12.8% to Rs 10,614.6 crore in the second quarter. The teleco had posted a revenue of Rs 9,406.4 crore in Q2 FY22.

EBITDA improved by 6.1% to Rs 4,097.5 crore in Q2 FY23 from Rs 3,862.9 crore in Q2 FY22. EBITDA margin was 38.6% in Q2 FY23 as against 41.1% in Q2 FY22.

The company recorded a pre-tax loss of Rs 7,591.4 crore in the second quarter, which is slightly higher than the pre-tax loss of Rs 7,128.3 crore reported in the corresponding quarter last fiscal.

The total gross debt (excluding lease liabilities and including interest accrued but not due) as of 30 September 2022 stood at Rs 2,20,320 crore, comprising of deferred spectrum payment obligations of Rs 1,36,650 crore (including Rs 17,260 crore towards spectrum acquired in recent spectrum auction) and AGR liability of Rs 68,590 crore that are due to the Government, and debt from banks and financial institutions of Rs. 15,080 crore. Total gross debt as of 30 September 2021 was Rs 1,94,780 crore.

Cash & cash equivalents were at Rs 190 crore as of 30 September 2022 as against Rs 250 crore as of 30 September 2021.

The company said that it continued to focus on expanding our high speed broadband network coverage and capacity. It also continued to refarm 2G/3G spectrum to expand its 4G coverage and capacity as well as upgrade its core and transmission network. The firm have shut down approximately 19,000 3G sites during the quarter while it added approximately 8,500 4G sites.

The company's overall broadband site count stood at 444,228 as of 30 September 2022 as against 450,481 as of 30 September 2021. Its 4G network covers over 1 billion Indians as of 30 September 2022.

ARPU improved to Rs 131, up 2% QoQ from Rs 128 in Q1FY23. On a YoY basis, ARPU witnessed strong growth of 19.5% aided by tariff hikes and migration of subscribers to unlimited plans.

The subscriber base declined to 234.4 million as against 240.4 million in Q1 FY23 and 253 million in Q2 FY22. The 4G subscriber base, however, continued to grow and with 1.5 million 4G customers added in Q2, and accordingly 4G subscriber base stood at 120.6 million. The company continued to witness high data usage per broadband customer at approximately 15.0 GB per month with the total data traffic witnessing healthy sequential growth of 5.4%. Blended subscriber churn for the quarter was higher at 4.3% as against 3.5% in Q1 FY23.

In the recently concluded spectrum auction, Vodafone Idea acquired mid band 5G spectrum (3300 MHz band) in its 17 priority circles, mmWave 5G spectrum (26 GHz band) in 16 circles and incremental 4G spectrum in 3 circles of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Punjab. The total commitment for the spectrum acquired in this auction is Rs 18,790 crore, with annual instalment of Rs. 1,680 crore over 20 years. Payment of first annual instalment has been made post which spectrum has been allocated.

ATC India is one of the largest infrastructure service provider for the company and both entities have a strong long-term relationship. In the spirit of this partnership, the company said that ATC India has agreed to subscribe to OCDs amounting to Rs 1,600 crore. These funds will be used to pay certain agreed amounts owed to ATC India under the master lease agreements and, to the extent of remainder, for general corporate purposes.

Akshaya Moondra, CEO, Vodafone Idea, said “We are pleased to report fifth consecutive quarter of revenue growth and 4G subscriber addition. Such performance is primarily driven by the continued increase in 4G subscriber base on the back of superior data and voice experience offered by Vi GIGAnet.

In the recently held India Mobile Congress (IMC), we showcased a wide range of 5G offerings for our enterprise and consumers on the Vi 5G Live network. Our board has recently approved issuance of optionally convertible debentures amounting to Rs 16 billion to ATC India.

We continue to remain engaged with our lenders and investors for further fund raising to make required investments for network expansion and 5G rollout.”

Vodafone Idea is an Aditya Birla Group and Vodafone Group partnership. It is amongst India's leading telecom service provider. The company provides pan India Voice and Data services across 2G, 3G and 4G platforms. The company holds large spectrum portfolio including mid band 5G spectrum in 17 circles and mmWave 5G spectrum in 16 circles.