Anil Ambani Group firm Reliance Communications Ltd on Saturday reported 51.66 per cent decline in its consolidated profit at Rs 740 crore for the second quarter of the fiscal due to provisions for foreign exchange fluctuation or derivative losses.
The company had consolidated net profit of Rs 1,531 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.
"Profit after tax would have been higher at Rs 1,023 crore but for provision of foreign exchange or derivatives mark-to-market losses of Rs 283 crore," the company said in a statement.
"These losses stand fully recovered, based on subsequent favourable exchange rate movements," it added.
"In the near-term, the wireless sector in India is undergoing a challenging phase, with increased competitive intensity and continuing aggressive re balancing of mobile tariffs by all leading players," RCOM Chairman Anil Ambani said.
"We believe a forward-looking and conducive regulatory framework by TRAI and DoT which is already under consideration, to facilitate market-driven industry consolidation will be a strong enabler to protect and create long-term value for all stakeholders," he said.
The company's consolidated revenue increased to Rs 5,703 crore in the quarter under review from Rs 5,645 crore in the year-ago period.
For the six-month period ended September, 2009, RCOM's consolidated net profit dropped to Rs 2,376.88 crore from Rs 3,042.93 crore, according to filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange by the company.
Consolidated net income from operations rose to Rs 11,339.20 crore for the half-year from Rs 10,765.03 crore for the same period last fiscal.
With a customer base of 92 million, including over 2.5 million individual overseas retail customers, the company ranks among the top five telecom providers in the world by the number of customers in a single country, it said.
Reliance Communications corporate clientele includes 2,100 Indian and multinational corporations apart from over 800 global, regional and domestic carriers.
Shares of the company closed at Rs 175.95, down 7.37 per cent from the previous close on the BSE.