Tata Communications posts $32.5m Q4 loss

Tata Communications has reported a 2.09 billion rupee ($32.5 million) net loss for the fourth quarter, with earnings impacted by issues including the impact of the demonetization of India’s 500 and 1000 rupee banknotes.

Gross revenue fell 10% year-on-year to 43 billion rupees, with ebitda down 35.9% over the same period to 5.03 billion rupees.

Besides the effect of demonetization, revenue was negatively impacted by the loss of revenue arising from the sale of 17 data centers in India and Singapore for $663 million in May last year.

Cable repair costs, employee-related expenses and legal fees associated with the court battle over NTT DoCoMo’s stake in the Tata DoCoMo joint venture also contributed to the decline.

With the Delhi High Court recently declaring the validity of the settlement agreement between Tata Teleservices, holding company Tata Sons and DoCoMo, entitling the Japanese operator to collect the $1.18 billion award reached in an earlier settlement agreement, Tata Communications said it has made a provision of 8.72 billion rupees for the current quarter.

For the full year, Tata Communications reported a net profit of 12.23 billion rupees, or $184 million in US dollar terms, as well as 5.2% lower gross revenue of 194.9 billion rupees.

“Market demand for our services remain strong and we continue to increase our wallet share with large global enterprises,” Tata Communications CEO Vinod Kumar commented.

“The conclusion of the Data Center and Neotel deals makes us stronger, more agile. This will help drive focus and momentum into our evolution from a traditional telco to a next generation digital enablement provider.”