Tata Communications narrows loss in Q1 to $25M

Better profitability at some of the units at India's Tata Communications have helped it to narrow its losses in the first quarter ended June to 1.4 billion rupees (US$25 million), from a loss of 2.1 billion rupees (US$37.9 million) from a year ago.
In its results announced Thursday, the communications giant reported a 26 percent rise in sales at 41.1 billion rupees (US$740 million).

The company highlighted that its voice segment maintained its growth pace and improved profitability, with net revenues up 39 percent on-year with better margins of 350 basis points. It added that global data services revenue also continued to gain traction, rising 26 percent year on year.
Its startup business, which largely maps to Neotel, also posted a growth in revenues of 21 percent at 4.6 billion rupees, narrowing its losses to 1.15 billion rupees (US$20.7 million) from 1.9 billion rupees (US$34.2 million) from the previous year.

"Neotel’s improved profitability is a strong reflection on the growth and operational efficiency initiatives we have invested in over the last year," said Vinod Kumar, managing director and CEO of Tata Communications.

He added that the company has introduced service enhancements and newer platforms for conducting business more efficiently and has "a sharper focus on strategic verticals such as financial solutions, business video and data centres".