Vodafone-Idea suffers third-successive loss of near Rs 5,000 crore

NEW DELHI: Vodafone-Idea, the country’s largest telecom operator by subscribers, continues to reel under losses and had a third consecutive quarter loss of nearly Rs 5,000 crore. Stiff competition unleashed by Reliance Jio has impacted the company’s profits as it also battles heavy debt and poor realisations.
The company, which is synergising operations after the merger of Vodafone India and Idea Cellular, said that losses in the quarter ending March 31, 2019, stood at Rs 4,882 crore. The loss in the previous quarter was Rs 5,005 crore while it was Rs 4,974 crore in the preceding one to that.
According to books of Vodafone Idea, there was a comprehensive loss of Rs 962.2 crore in the same quarter a year ago, but the year-on-year figure is not comparable as the merger between India unit of Vodafone Group and Idea Cellular was completed on August 31, 2018.