Vodafone India Added 14 Million Customers during 2017-18

MUMBAI:
Vodafone India, one of the leading total telecommunication service providersin the country announced its Full Year financial results(IFRS) for the year ended March 31, 2018.
Key Financial Highlights: Vodafone India Standalone figures
Financial Performance
 Service revenue at INR 34,855 crores in FY18 (down by 18.9%), impacted by reduction in interconnect usage charge, international termination charge and continuing suppressed pricing in the industry.
 EBITDA at INR 7,766 crores in FY18
 EBITDA margin of 22.1%; strong cost management performance mitigated decline in EBITDA margin.
 Operating Free Cash Flow (OFCF) at INR 1,214 crores in FY18; continued targeted capital investments and reduced margins due to competitive intensity impacted cash flow
 Sustained and prioritized capital investments of INR 7,251 crores in FY18; (Capex intensity of 20.7%)
Operational Performance
 A base of 223 million customers (up 6.5% YoY) serviced through a network of ~139,000 total sites
 Substantial rural presence with a customer base of 120 million in Mar18
 Gained Revenue Market Share; Q3 FY18 at 20.9%
 Service Revenue ARPU at INR 119 in Q4 FY18; consumption shift to deeply discounted bundled plans
 Vodafone Business Services now contributing c.20% of Service revenues(FY18)
Vodafone Business Services: Partnering enterprises on their digital journey; Powering Digital India
 Vodafone’s enterprise portfolio continues strong performance with leadership in Revenue Market Share (RMS). This is reflected across Large Enterprise, Government, SME and Start-up segments
 Enterprise business growing faster than industry rate
 With the launch of Super IoT, Vodafone is now the only telco to offer an end-to-end IoT solution in this fast growing segment
 Exceptional growth in both Fixed Line services in Data and Voice products. Strong uptake on newly launched SIP Trunk services.
 Deepened engagements with State governments and Public sector enterprises with key deployments under the Smart Cities mission
 Increased digital customer enablement through apps and portals, reducing TAT and enhancing customer experience
 Delivering fully digital network for fixed line network services
Driving Data
 Data usage grows c.350% in FY18 over FY17; 523% in Q4 FY18 YoY
 76 million data users, of which 53.5million use >1MB
 Added 22 million broadband users YoY to close at 59.8million 3G/4G subscribers
 Data usage exploding and usage/sub (for users >1MB for Q4FY18) at 5.0GB
 Data usage growth led by higher smartphone penetration at over 40% of total customer base(Mar’18 exit)
 Accelerated data adoption by making 4G smartphones more affordable with attractive offers via partnerships with leading handset manufacturers- Micromax, Samsung, Nokia, Lava, Intel, Intex, One Plus etc.
Driving Digital
 Announced new brand positioning – “The Future is Exciting. Ready?” positioning Vodafone as a modern contemporary, inspiring and future fit brand with a progressive view of the world. This new positioning underlines Vodafne’s belief that new technologies and digital services will play a positive role in transforming society and enhancing individual quality of life over the years ahead.
 Launched Voice over LTE (VoLTE) services enabling customers to experience the best from Vodafone’s Data Strong Network. Customers enjoy HD quality crystal clear voice with super call connect when they call any mobile or landline network using Vodafone VoLTE
 Launched “Happy to Help…IN A CLICK”, a new service philosophy offering new age, digitally evolved self-care experiences to customers, enhancing speed and convenience of service
 Introduced gamification in MyVodafoneApp to increase usage, drive engagement and enhance experience
Driving Content
 Vodafone Play – Strengthened regional content portfolio with more than 5,000 Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Bhojpuri and Bengali movies. Vodafone Play – your one window to the world of entertainment has more than 10000+ movies, over 300 Live TV channels, International premium TV shows and Original web series across all genres. Vodafone Play is also bundled Free with Vodafone Red plan.
 Netflix – Vodafone Red offer- Partnership with Netflix to offer 12-months free subscription for Vodafone Red subscribers on select plans with Samsung S8 & S9+ handset.
 Vodafone – Magzter– Partnership with Magzter, the world’s largest digital magazine newsstand – for Vodafone customers to access over 100,000 issues of 4,000+ best-selling International, Indian and Regional magazines across the globe.
 Vodafone Games – launched in partnership with Opera – an online gaming platform that lets customers access a premium catalogue of 400+ popular games
Awards and Recognitions
 Vodafone was recognized amongst the top 10 Most Trusted Brands in the country in the Brand Trust Report 2018 published by Brand Equity
 Vodafone won 5 awards in EFFIES 2018 for Asha Bala, #MakeMostofNow,#LookUp and #FarmerBnB
 Vodafone India recognized as Aon Best Employer in India for 2018
 Vodafone Business Services won 4 ‘CIO Choice Awards 2018’ – Telecom Carrier (Leased Line), Telecom Carrier (Mobile Access), Internet of Things and Telecom Carrier (International Access)
 Vodafone won 5 awards in ‘Voice & Data Young Leadership Award 2017’ for IoT/Customer Service, Enterprise Service, mGovernance, Marketing Services and CSR
 Vodafone received the ‘IISSM Industrial Sector Safety Award 2017 in Telecom Sector’ for outstanding performance in industrial safety & promoting safe work environment
Sunil Sood, Managing Director and CEO, Vodafone India commented: “Operationally, it was an extremely challenging year wherein industry revenues were adversely impacted due to a reduction in interconnect usage charges, international termination charges and continuing suppressed pricing. Our business managed costs extremely well, which helped mitigate the reduction in our EBITDA margin despite rolling out 50k 3G/4G sites during the year. Our strategic focus on democratizing data, enriching the content portfolio and bundled offerings resulted in us gaining a disproportionate share of customers from the ongoing consolidation in the industry to become the telecom service provider of choice to 223 million customers, We remain committed to playing our due role in enabling Digital India by fulfilling the evolving needs of increasing volumes, speed and connectivity solutions of both retail and enterprise customers. Additionally, we completed the sale of our standalone tower business to ATC for INR 38.5bn and are making good progress in securing the necessary regulatory approvals for the merger of Vodafone India and Idea Cellular. The merger is expected to complete in June 2018.”