MUMBAI: Reliance Communications (RCom) has said that it is confident of closing the sale of its wireless assets to Reliance Jio Infocomm in the July-September quarter of this fiscal year.
The company narrowed its losses in the fiscal first quarter ended June 30, 2018, significantly from the previous quarter which included the impact of a one-time charge the Anil Ambani-owned telco had to factor in due to the closure of its wireless assets.
For the April-June quarter, RCom Wednesday said it posted a loss of Rs 343 crore compared with Rs19,776 crore in the previous quarter.
The total income for the Ambani owned telco stood at Rs 1008 crore, a drop of about 27% when compared on a like to like basis. However , the revenue was up from the Rs 976 crore, the telco posted in previous quarter.
The telco, bowing down to industry pressure had decided to shut its wireless operations last year . The sale of wireless operations to Jio and real estate assets in New Delhi and Chennai to Brookfield will fetch Rcom an aggregate of Rs 18,100 crore.
It now has enterprise business , internet data centres , global submarine cable network and international long distance voice.
Earnings before interest depreciation tax and amortisation (EBIDTA) for the continuing business was Rs 136 crore compared to Rs 159 crore in the trailing quarter. EBIDTA margin for the company stood at 13.5% for the June ended quarter.
The operator stated in a regulatory filing that because it was undergoing a debt resolution process it had not paid interests for the quarter , otherwise the losses would have increased.
"Had the company provided interest and foreign exchange losses , the Loss would have been higher by Rs 1786 crore for the quarter ended June 30,2018," said the telco.
Rcom's net loss from continuing operations was Rs 110 crore for the June end quarter as against a loss of Rs 79 crore in the trailing quarter.
The telco few months ago managed to stave off insolvency by agreeing to pay Rs 550 crore to Ericsson and Rs 232 crore to minority shareholders of its tower unit-Reliance Infratel and end legal disputes that had delayed its asset monetisation program.
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