(The Times of India) Reliance Communications said its consolidated net profit for the July-September period, its fiscal second quarter, stood at 7.2 billion rupees ($160.3 million), a turnaround from a net loss of 190 million rupees ($4.2 million) a year earlier.
The company attributed its strong performance to a higher margin of 38% as compared to the previous quarter's 17%.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, Reliance's net profit was up 37% from the 5.1 billion rupees ($113.6 million) posted in the April-June quarter.
In the July-September period, revenues soared 40% to 35.3 billion rupees ($786 million), from 25.2 billion rupees ($561.1 million) a year ago.
The company added about 3.5 million mobile subscribers in the same period, bringing its total subscriber base to 27 million.
At the end of its fiscal second quarter, Reliance's network coverage had expanded to more than 6,000 cities and towns from 3,000 last year, the company said.
In its international and national long distance business, the company's gross margins improved to 24.3% from 9%, while in its broadband business, margins nearly tripled to 44.8% from 16.7%.
© 2006 The Times of India
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