Telecom major Idea Cellular Friday reported a decline of 48.53 percent in its net profit for the second quarter of the current fiscal due to high interest rates and operational costs.
The company's profit after tax (PAT) in the period under review stood at Rs.79.3 crore as compared to Rs.154.1 crore in the corresponding quarter of the last fiscal.
"The challenging external environment pushed the profit after tax (PAT) on a standalone basis down to Rs.793 million against Rs.1,541 million in the previous quarter, on account of net high interest and financial cost," the company said in a regulatory filling to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
According to the filling, the company lost Rs.253.8 crore on account of net high interest and financial cost including Rs.31.3 crore in forex loss.
The company's consolidated net profit came down by 41 percent at Rs 105.76 crore for the quarter ended Sep 30, from Rs.179.74 crore for the corresponding quarter of last fiscal.
The company said that the "voice minutes of use" decreased by 2.2 percent to 106.2 billion minutes, due to seasonal reasons.
"The depression in the minutes has been compensated with a healthy 4.2 percent improvement in average realised rate (ARR) from 41.0 p to 42.7 p," the filing said.
"The factors supporting ARR were increase in VAS contribution up from 12.1 percent to 13.2 percent roaming revenues and revision in promotional tariffs."
The company added that it now has a subscriber base of 100 million.