Key highlights from Vodafone Idea Limited (IDEA) Q4 FY22 Earnings Concall
Q&A Highlights:
- Kunal Vora from BNP Paribas asked if the tariff hike benefit largely in the revenue now or more can be expected in the coming quarter. Ravinder Takkar MD said that largely in the last two quarters the price increase has flowed through into the results that IDEA has seen. So revenue growth was seen in Q3 and Q4 as well.
- Kunal Vora from BNP Paribas also asked about plans to increase EBITDA further. Ravinder Takkar MD said IDEA will see further improvement of EBITDA taking place through several fronts, one with more unlimited 4G adoption and secondly, through the initiatives around the digital area and tariff hikes.
- Vivekanand Subbaraman from Ambit asked about the tariff outlook in the near term. Ravinder Takkar MD said that as IDEA looks forward to further tariff increases, generally speaking from an inflation perspective, and a need and a desire and a share of wallet, telecom continues to be a very small piece of the overall consumer spend. So there is long way to go.
- Vivekanand Subbaraman from Ambit asked about the funding of the INR81.6 billion debt servicing that is due in the next 12 months. Akshaya Moondra CFO replied that the way to look at it is that there is an overall funding requirement, which IDEA has in its business plan. This debt will be primarily repaid out of IDEA’s accruals.
- Sanjesh Jain of ICICI Securities asked that on the capEx side, in absence of fundraising, if it’s fair to assume that IDEA will be investing close to INR10 billion per annum. Akshaya Moondra CFO replied that in the last two years, IDEA had incurred annual capex in the region of INR40 billion plus per annum. And with closing of fundraising discussions, IDEA added that this figure will increase from earlier figures.
- Sanjesh Jain of ICICI Securities asked about the situation on maintenance capex. Akshaya Moondra CFO answered that on the maintenance capex, it is very difficult to identify in the telecom environment, because old technology is replaced with new technology.
- Pranav Kshatriya of Edelweiss asked about losing out on volume market share. Ravinder Takkar MD said that IDEA losing out on engagement with the customers is absolutely an incorrect perception and it is not the right way to represent the numbers. And feel very comfortable and confident that IDEA customers are very well engaged and continue to be engaged going forward.