India's top mobile operator, posted a worse-than-expected 8 percent fall in quarterly profit to Rs 2060 crore as cheap call charges took a toll in the world's fastest-growing mobile market. Its total revenues stood at Rs 10,060 crore for the quarter up 2% from the same quarter last year. For the full-year 2009-10, the consolidated revenue was up 7 per cent at Rs 39,620 crore year-on-year, while its net profit was up 7 per cent at Rs 9103 crore. The EBIDTA margin for its mobile services that contribute more than 81 per cent to the company's total revenue fell to 29.2 per cent from 30.4 per cent in the previous quarter.
India is signing up mobile subscribers at a furious pace of 16 million a month on average in the past one year including a record 20 million in March but stiff competition has send per-second call charges as low as 1/100th of a U.S. cent, hitting profitability for companies.