Idea Cellular Posts 69 Percent Jump in Quarterly Profits

Idea Cellular Ltd, India's No.3 mobile operator, posted a 69 percent rise in quarterly profit after adding subscribers faster than its competitors and as its data plans attracted more users.

Idea Cellular, the first telecoms carrier to report results for the quarter to end-September, said it earned Rs. 756 crores in its second quarter, compared with Rs. 448 crores a year earlier.

The result beat the average analyst estimate of Rs. 665 crores in net profit, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Idea Cellular added about 1.7 million subscribers to its network in September, according to the Cellular Operators Association of India.

Its average revenue per user rose to Rs. 176 in the quarter from Rs. 164 last year, the company said. Mobile data volume grew 21 percent from the previous quarter.

Net sales of the company rose about 20 percent to 75.66 billion.

Unlike rival Bharti Airtel, which has other businesses, Idea is a mobile services company and operates within India, making it a preferred telecoms stock for some brokerages.

Idea is part of the Aditya Birla conglomerate and about 20 percent owned by Malaysia's Axiata.

Its shares closed up 4.7 percent at Rs. 161.45 on Monday, before the release of its results.

© Thomson Reuters 2014