Reliance Comm's Q4 net profit down 3.3 per cent

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Reliance Communications, India's second-biggest mobile cell phone operator, posted an albeit less than expected 3.3 percent fall in quarterly profit on Thursday as the costs of expanding its GSM services weighed.

Reliance, which added a record 11.3 million subscribers during the March quarter after it expanded its GSM mobile operations to all of India, said its net profit fell to 14.54 billion rupees ($292 million) in its fiscal fourth quarter ended March, from 15.03 billion in the same period last year.

Revenue rose 10 percent to 57.98 billion rupees.

Analysts polled by Reuters had on average expected a net profit of 13.30 billion on revenue of 60.88 billion for the Mumbai-based firm, which had 72.7 million subscribers at the end of March accounting for more than 18 percent of the wireless market.

Most of Reliance's subscribers use a CDMA technology service but the company is aggressively pushing its GSM business with lower entry costs and free talk time. It expanded its GSM service in January to cover all of India.

Reliance's larger rival Bharti Airtel on Wednesday reported a 21 percent rise in quarterly profits.