New Delhi: Idea Cellular failed to show upbeat performance in the three months period ended September 30, 2007.

The Aditya Birla Group firm has posted a 29 percent slump in its PAT (profit after tax), which stood at Rs 220 crore compared to Rs 308 crore in the same period last year (2006).

However, the company’s EBIDTA remained unchanged at Rs 512 crore.

Sanjeev Aga, managing director, Idea Cellular Ltd, stated, “In the previous quarter, the company had some out-of-turn gains such as forex gain of Rs 37 crore and residual income from the treasury. Further, this quarter we have made provisions for taxation to the tune of Rs 27 crore. These are the reasons for the decline in the profit.”

In the same period (Q2), the company added up 2.55 million subscribers, which takes the overall subscribers base to 18.67 million.

Mr. Aga declared that the company’s growth has been slower in the second quarter. The recent decline was because of various factors, he added.

The usage charge was down from 0.84 paise to 0.80 paise per minute and the usage time has also dropped to 360 minutes per user from 381 minutes per user as compared to the last quarter.

Average revenue per user (Arpu) has also plunged to Rs 288 from Rs 320 in the previous quarter.

The company has declared a capital expenditure of Rs 9,000 crore for the existing and the coming fiscal for establishing network capacity in subsisting circles. It is working in 13 different service areas.

On the tower business, Mr. Aga said the company’s board has permitted to create its inactive infrastructure into a wholly owned arm, but there has been no verdict on the future strategy.