Reliance communications record profit of Rs 702 crore

New Delhi, Oct 30 (UNI) Reliance Communications today said that it has posted a net profit for the quarter ending September 2006 at Rs 702 crore (153 million dollars) compared to a loss of Rs 19 crore (4 million dollars) during the same period last year.

EBITDA or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation grew at 216 per cent at Rs 1,353 crore (294 million dollars) compared to same quarter (Q2) last year.

The Anil Ambani owned company also rode on a high revenue growth of 40 per cent at Rs 3,526 crore (767 million dollars) compared to Rs 2,522 crore (549 million dollars).

EBITDA margin expands to 38 per cent from 17 per cent in the corresponding quarter last year, with strong contributions across all businesses.

The total assets stood at Rs 32,281 crore (7,025 million dollars) as on 30th September 2006, a company statement said here.

Net debt declined sequentially by 16 per cent to Rs 2,057 crore (448 million dollars) as on 30th September 2006.

Reliance Communications Ltd Chairman Anil Ambani said ''Reliance Communications growth engine is poised to deliver accelerated profitability and even greater momentum in the years ahead''.

Our unique fully integrated telecom operations, differentiate us from mainly mobile operators, and will deliver unmatched value to our over 2 million shareholders, Mr Ambani added.

As on 30th September 2006, the Company had 26 million wireless customers on its network, representing a market share of 20.5 per cent of the all India wireless market.

About 3.5 million wireless customers (net) were added during Q2 FY 2007, which is more than double the net wireless additions of 1.6 million subscribers in the corresponding quarter last year.

Users of wireless multimedia services increased further to 8.1 million as on 30th September, continuing the upward trend in usage of these services by customers.

Revenues of the wireless business increased 44.7 per cent from Rs 1,778 crore (387 million dollars) to Rs 2,574 crore (560 million dollars).

In the ILD business, RCOM maintained its leading market share of more than 40 per cent in the US to India retail customer calls segment.

Domestic long distance business saw a 20 per cent growth in volumes in Q2 FY 2007 compared to the previous sequential quarter on stable net realizations.

The quarter saw a further increase in traffic routed on our own network.

During Q2 FY 2007, RCOM commissioned FALCON, the world's largest private submarine cable system to be constructed in the last five years.

FALCON was launched four months ahead of schedule, and at 80 per cent of the projected cost.

It has 14 landing stations providing much needed international connectivity to 12 countries in the fast growing Gulf region and de-bottlenecking capacity between India, the West Asia and Europe.

The equity share capital of the Company now stands increased to 2,044,614,990 equity shares of Rs 5 each aggregating Rs 1,022.31 crore.

The reorganization did not involve any cash transactions.

Further, the reorganization has enabled a seamless transition to a simple and transparent corporate structure that affords significant advantages to the Company, aligning the interests of the promoter group with that of over 2 million shareholders.

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