Vodafone Idea’s top-line benefitted from double-digit ARPU growth in its fiscal Q2 2022-2023 (ending 30 September), but profit was hit by rising finance and operating expenses, along with continued subscriber losses.

In its earnings release, CEO Akshaya Moondra highlighted a revenue gain in the period was its fifth consecutive quarter of growth, along with an increase in LTE subscribers.

Moondra said the debt-laiden company will continue to “remain engaged with our lenders and investors for further fundraising” to make the required investments for network expansion and 5G rollout.

Net loss in the recent quarter grew 6.5 per cent year-on-year to INR75.9 billion ($926.7 million), with interest and finance costs up 18.5 per cent to INR50.3 billion.

Opex rose 17.7 per cent to INR65.2 billion.

Total revenue grew 12.8 per cent to INR106.1 billion, aided by a 20.2 per cent rise in blended ARPU to INR131.

Vodafone Idea’s total mobile subscribers fell nearly 20 million to 234.4 million, though 4G users increased 3.8 per cent to 120.6 million.

Average monthly data usage remained at 15.4GB.

Vodafone Idea stated it closed about 19,000 3G sites during the quarter and added 8,500 4G sites.

Capex spending for the first six month of the fiscal year declined 8.5 per cent to INR20.5 billion.