Bharti Airtel (Airtel) on Tuesday reported a consolidated net profit of ₹284 crore for the first quarter ended June 30. The company had reported a net loss of ₹15,933 crore in the corresponding period last year.
However, on a sequential basis, the net profit for the quarter under review declined 62 per cent when compared to net profit of ₹ 759 crore recorded in the fourthquarter ended March 31, 2021.
The company said in the previous March quarter there was an exceptional gain of ₹ 473 crore, and also this quarter saw an increase in finance cost on accountof forex and depreciation.
The consolidated revenue of the company grew by 15 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to ₹26,854 crore during the quarter under review as against ₹23,290 crore in theApril-June period 2020.
The company had reported revenues of ₹ 25,747 crore in the previous quarter ended March 31,2021.
The company said consolidated mobile data traffic stood at 10,439 petabytes (PBs) in the quarter with a healthy YoY growth of around 49 per cent. India revenue for the first quarter was recorded at ₹18,828 crore, an increase of 11 per cent YoY on a reported basis.
“India is now recovering from the devastating second wave of Covid-19… while our wireless revenue was impacted by the Covid lockdown induced slowdown in terms of device shipments and a financial squeeze at the lower end of the market, our overall performance reflected the resilience and strength of our portfolio,” said Gopal Vittal, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (India and South Asia) in a statement.
He said the company added around 5.1 million 4G customers during the quarter and the enterprise business in India continued to deliver strongly. “Our Homes business grew by just about 13 per cent over last year and added 2.85 lakh customers in the quarter, the highest ever. We continue to invest in the best of emerging technologies, including networks and digital capabilities,” Vittal said.
ARPU revenue
Average revenue per user (ARPU) for the quarter came in at ₹146 as compared to ₹138 in the first quarter last year, the company said.
The company continues to garner a strong share of the 4G net adds in the market. The 4G data customers increased by more than 33 per cent YoY to 184.4 million compared to the previous year, the company said.
Over the last four quarters, the company has added around 46 million 4G customers to its network. ARPU continues to be the best in industry - average data usageper data customer at 18.5 GBs/month, while voice usage was at 1,044 mins/customer/month, the company added.
Shares of Airtel closed at ₹580.20 apiece on the BSE on Tuesday, up 2.68 per cent from the previous close.