India's Tata Communications has reported a net profit of 1.01 billion rupees ($16.9 million) for the year ending in March – its first consolidated annual net profit in the last five years.
Core operating revenue grew 14% to 174.5 billion rupees. Voice revenue grew 11%, while data revenue was up 17%, in a result attributed to demand from global enterprise customers for Ethernet, VPN solutions and managed services.
For the fourth quarter the company's net loss widened to 1.23 billion rupees, from 52 million a year earlier. But core revenue grew 16% to 45.79 billion rupees.
Tata Comm's startup business, consisting primarily of its 68.5% stake in South African fixed-line operator Neotel, reported 37% higher revenue of 6.36 billion rupees.
Tata Comm CFO Sanjay Baweja commented that the company plans to continue to “focus on securing future growth and driving cost efficiencies across our business” in the financial year ahead.