Reliance Communications (RCOM), India’s fourth-largest mobile operator, saw fiscal second-quarter net profit surge to INR6.75 billion ($107 million) on the back of higher call tariffs and weakening competition. Net profit the previous quarter was INR1.08 billion.

True, the boost was helped by a provision write-back of INR4.4 billion, but strip that out and net profit was INR2.34 billion – still higher than an analyst average estimate, quoted by Reuters, of INR1.46 billion.

Second-quarter revenue from RCOM’s Indian operations was up 5.4 per cent, year-on-year, to INR46.24 billion, although sales from global operations slipped 0.3 per cent, to INR11.4 billion, over the same period.

RCOM’s overall subscriber base is falling in India, down from 136 million at the end of September 2012 to 118 million twelve months later.

However, the operator has a much better quality subscriber in terms of spending. Monthly ARPU during Q2 averaged out at INR120, up from INR95 over the same period the year before. The spending boost was helped by a 31 per cent jump in data customers, to 34 million.

The number of RCOM’s 3G customers nearly doubled over the same period, albeit from a small base. The operator had 9.1 million 3G subscribers as of 30 September 2013, up from 4.8 million 12 months previously.

According to a Reuters report, RCOM is in “active discussions with a party” to sell a stake in its international business (which includes undersea cables), according to a senior company executive.

RCOM will also look to sell a stake in its satellite TV business to help reduce its debt load, Gurdeep Singh, Reliance Communications’ chief executive (wireless) told Reuters.

RCOM’s net debt stood at INR412 billion as of 30 September 2013, up from INR385 billion three months previously.