By IANS,
Mumbai : Anil Dhirubhai Ambani-led Reliance Communications (RCOM) Wednesday announced a 70.8 percent rise in net profits for the year ended March 31 to log Rs.54.01 billion ($1.35 billion), against Rs.31.64 billion ($717 million) for the year before.
The company also announced that its GSM mobile services will roll out over the next 12-18 months.
Reliance Communications – India’s largest mobile phone company in CDMA segment – said its revenues grew 31.8 percent to Rs.190.68 billion ($4.77 billion), against Rs.144.68 billion ($3.28 billion) for 2006-07.
The company’s board has recommended a dividend of 15 percent to its two million shareholders.
“Reliance Communications had a record year and we are confident of improved performance in the future,” chairman Anil Ambani told reporters here Wednesday, while speaking about the annual audited results.
Ambani also said that the company has aggressive expansion plans in the GSM segment. At present, it provides GSM mobile services in 7 of India’s 23 circles.
“Within next 12-18 months, we will complete the GSM network expansion. The roll-out would begin at end of this year and would be completed in first half of next year,” said Ambani.
With a pan-India presence, the company has more than 48 million customers today, in some 15,000 towns and 400,000 villages. It is the only company to have nationwide GSM and CDMA services in India.
For the last quarter ended March 31, the company posted a net profit of Rs.15.03 billion ($375.75 million) compared to Rs.10.24 billion ($256 million) in the corresponding quarter previous year.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization surged by 43.3 percent to Rs.81.99 billion ($2.04 billion) while margins rose 43.6 percent from 41.5 percent in the year-ago quarter.
The company’s scrip ended Wednesday at Rs.579.75 to register a gain of 0.88 percent over the previous close.