The telecom service provider saw an 11.8% decline in revenue on a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis. Vodafone Idea (Vi) users consumed 48.5 million terabytes of data in Q4FY21, which ended on March 31, 2021; the per-user consumption has also increased from 11.5GBG to 13GB. The total data volume is up by almost 20% from the same quarter last year; the consumption in the following quarter is likely to be higher due to the spike in data consumption that the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to have caused. The company said it saw "strong 4G net additions" of 4.2 million, putting the current 4G base at 113.9 million. However, the company continues to suffer net losses due to a variety of factors including a one-time network expense. Capital infusion seems to be the only move that can revive the telco's finances, which said that it was in active discussions with potential investors. "Cost optimisation [is] underway with a target to achieve Rs 40 billion annualised opex savings by December 2021; achieved ~65% of targeted opex efficiency on run-rate basis," the company said in a press release. Most of the QoQ revenue decline in this quarter was due to the abolition of the Interconnect Usage Charge (IUC), where a telco whose user is placing a call paid the receiving network a statutorily mandated amount. Airtel and Jio were likely not hit as hard on this aspect as their incoming and outgoing call traffic were largely balanced, rendering the IUC a…
