ARPU further improves and losses reduce on a YoY basis but viability concerns remain due to massive debt | Vodafone Idea Q4 FY22 Conference Call

• Revenue for the quarter was Rs. 10,240 Cr, a QoQ improvement of 5.4% (+6.6% YoY), aided by tariff hikes taken in November 2021. The average daily revenue for the quarter witnessed a QoQ growth of 7.7%, the highest since the merger. On a reported basis, EBITDA for the quarter was Rs. 4650 Cr.
• Capex spend for Q4FY22 was Rs. 1210 Cr vs Rs. 1050 Cr in Q3FY22. Total capex spend for FY22 stands at Rs. 4490 Cr vs Rs. 4150 Cr in FY21.
• The total gross debt (excluding lease liabilities and including interest accrued but not due) as of March 31, 2022 stands at Rs. 1,97,880 Cr, comprising of deferred spectrum payment obligations of Rs. 1,13,860 Cr, AGR liability of Rs. 65,950 Cr that are due to the Government and debt from banks and financial institutions of Rs. 18,070 Cr.  Cash & cash equivalents were Rs. 1460 Cr and net debt stood at Rs. 1,96,420 Cr.
• During the year, added ~27,000 4G FDD sites primarily through refarming of 2G/3G spectrum to expand the 4G coverage and capacity as well as continued to upgrade the core and transmission network.
• The overall broadband site count stood at 455,264 as of March 31, 2022 compared to 452,650 a year ago. Company has shut down ~32,000 3G sites during the year while added over 35,000 4G sites.
• Till date, company has deployed nearly 70,400 TDD sites in addition to the deployment of ~13,900 Massive MIMO sites and ~13,200 small cells. Further, they continue to expand the LTE 900 presence in 12 circles at multiple locations, including through dynamic spectrum refarming, to improve customer experience.
• ARPU improved to Rs. 124, up 7.5% QoQ vs Rs. 115 in Q3FY22, aided by the tariff hikes in November 2021. The subscriber base declined to 24.38 Cr vs 24.72 Cr in Q3FY22, primarily due to tariff increase. However, the 4G subscriber base continued to grow and with 10 Lakh customers added in Q4, 4G base now stands at 11.81 Cr. Subscriber churn was flat QoQ at 3.4%.
• Continue to see the increase in the data usage per 4G customer which now stands at ~13.9 GB/month vs ~12.9 GB/month a year ago. The total data traffic thus witnessed healthy growth of 7.9% YoY.

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