NEW DELHI, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Idea Cellular Ltd,India's third-biggest mobile phone carrier by revenue, said onThursday its quarterly net profit surged 86 percent after it wasable to raise call prices in the world's second-biggest mobilephone market.
Idea, part of the metals-to-financials Aditya Birlaconglomerate, said consolidated net profit rose to 4.48 billionrupees ($73 million) for its fiscal second quarter to Sept. 30,from 2.41 billion rupees a year earlier.
Analysts on average expected the company, nearly a fifthowned by Malaysia's Axiata, to report a net profit of4.22 billion rupees.
Bigger Indian phone carriers such as Bharti Airtel Ltd, Vodafone Group Plc's local unit and Idea havecut discounts and raised some call prices this year afterseveral of their smaller rivals were forced to exit or scaleback by a court order on a massive licensing scandal.