India’s Vodafone Idea yesterday named insider Abhijit Kishore as CEO and reported a smaller-than-expected first-quarter loss as the telecom operator continued to benefit from the previous year’s price hikes.

Kishore, currently chief operating officer, will replace CEO Akshaya Moondra when his term ends on August 18, the company said in an exchange filing, according to a Reuters report.

The debt-saddled telecom operator’s consolidated loss after tax widened to 66.08 billion rupees ($754.49 million) in the quarter ended June 30, from a loss of 64.32 billion rupees a year earlier. Analysts, on average, were expecting a loss of 70 billion rupees, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Vodafone Idea’s average revenue per user (ARPU) – a key metric for the telecom sector – rose 15 percent year-on-year to 177 rupees. However, the number remained well below peer Bharti Airtel’s 250 rupees and Reliance Industries-owned Jio’s 208.8 rupees.

The three companies had raised mobile plan rates in July 2024 for the first time in more than two years, as their focus shifts to monetisation from fierce competition for market share. Both Airtel and Jio had also posted upbeat quarterly results thanks to the hikes.

Vodafone Idea, 49 percent owned by the Indian government, was formed in 2018 by a merger between the Indian arm of UK-based Vodafone Group and Aditya Birla Group’s Idea Cellular.

It has posted a loss every quarter since then as the company continues to cede market share to larger rivals Airtel and Jio, weighed by more than $22 billion in debt and struggling to expand 4G and 5G networks at the pace of its competitors.

The wireless carrier’s user base fell 5.9 percent year-on-year to 197.7 million as of June-end, trailing behind both Jio and Airtel.

Its overall revenue rose about 4.9 percent to 110.23 billion rupees, missing analysts’ estimates of 111.39 billion rupees.