Tata Communications Posts Dip in Net Profit on Declining Voice Services

The company had reported a net profit of Rs. 108.53 crores in the same period a year ago.

"Core business profit after tax improved from Rs. 39 crores to Rs. 91 crores. Year-on-Year (YoY), consolidated PAT declined due to one time interest income on tax refund," Tata Communications Chief Financial Officer Pratibha K Advani told PTI.

The consolidated total income of the company, however, increased 3.7 percent to Rs. 5,099.5 crores during the quarter under review from Rs. 4,914.51 crores in the corresponding period of 2014-15.

Tata Communications reported decline in its voice service business, but data services business witnessed growth during the quarter.

"We are happy to have delivered yet another quarter of steady growth despite volatility in the macro-economic environment. We have seen a 16.7 percent year-on-year increase in third quarter data revenues," Tata Communications MD and CEO Vinod Kumar said.

Global voice segment continues to be adversely impacted by structural industry-level headwinds namely the growing acceptance of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) delivered by over the top carriers (OTTs) coupled with a steep decline in tariffs, the company said.

The revenue of Tata Communications from voice solutions declined by about 5 percent to Rs. 2,009.54 crores from Rs. 2,114.14 crores while that of data and managed services segment increased 16.7 percent to Rs. 2,723.3 crores from Rs. 2,332.67 crores during the October-December quarter.

"Our data business offering is growing at a significant pace ahead of the industry. The robust and predictable data performance has provided headroom to absorb volatility in the voice segment," Advani said.

Shares of Tata Communications closed 1.38 percent down at Rs. 404.55 a piece on BSE on Tuesday.