Idea Cellular, India's third-largest mobile phone carrier by revenue, reported a 13 per cent fall in quarterly profit in line with estimates on higher interest costs.
Idea, part of the Aditya Birla conglomerate, said on Thursday consolidated net profit fell to Rs 2.39 billion for its fiscal fourth quarter ended March, from Rs 2.75 billion reported a year earlier.
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Mobile phone carriers in India, the world's second-biggest telecoms market, have been hit by fresh regulatory uncertainty in recent months after a court order to revoke all cellular permits granted in a scandal-tainted 2008 sale.
Idea is set to lose seven of its 22 zonal operative licences when the court order becomes effective in September and must win back those permits in an auction to retain its all-India presence to compete with bigger rivals Bharti Airtel and Vodafone's local unit.
But with the sector regulator proposing an airwaves auction with starting price of nearly 10 times the 2008 sale price, Idea will have to spend at least Rs 25.35 billion to win back the permits.
Revenue in the quarter rose nearly 27 per cent to Rs 53.7 billion as it added more customers. Idea, with about 113 million mobile users at end-March, is India's fourth-largest carrier by subscribers.
Analysts in a Reuters poll of 19 brokerages had on average expected a net profit of Rs 2.41 billion on revenue of Rs 53.04 billion in the company, which is about a fifth owned by Malaysia's Axiata.
Shares in Idea, valued at $5.2 billion, closed 4.1 per cent higher at Rs 83.35, before the earnings announcement.
Idea shares are down more than 15 per cent this month after outperforming bigger rivals and the broader market in the three months to March.
Copyright @ Thomson Reuters 2012
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