AgenciesNEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel’s consolidated net profit fell 3% on year and 27% sequentially, as customer losses weighed on the positive effects of a tariff hike, which boosted average revenue per user (ARPU) at its India mobile business.
This is the company's fifth successive quarter in the black after six straight losses as the December quarter consolidated profit stood at Rs 830 crore, compared with Rs 854 crore a year ago and Rs 1,134 crore posted in the July-September period.
Strong India mobile revenue growth was driven by tariff hikes in November across the prepaid segment, which propelled average revenue per user (ARPU) growth at India’s second largest telco, said analysts.
Airtel’s ARPU, a key performance metric for telcos, grew 6.5% sequentially to Rs 163 in the December quarter. Consolidated revenue grew 18% from a year earlier and 5.4% sequentially to Rs 29,867 crore.
“We have delivered another quarter of sustained performance across all our business segments. Overall Sequential revenue growth was at 5.4% and EBITDA margins came in at 49.9%. The recent tariff revision for mobile services has gone down well and we are exiting the quarter with an industry leading ARPU of Rs 163,” Gopal Vittal, managing director of Bharti Airtel, India, South Asia, said in a statement Tuesday.
He added that the full impact of the revised mobile tariffs will be visible in the fiscal fourth quarter ending March 31.
“Our Enterprise, Homes and Africa business continue to deliver strongly, with steady increase in contribution to the overall mix of the portfolio. Our balance sheet is robust and we are now generating healthy free cash flows. This has enabled us to recently prepay some of our spectrum liabilities to the Government thereby reducing the interest burden,” Vittal said.
Google’s recent investment is a strong validation of Airtel’s role in being a leading pioneer of India’s digital revolution, Vittal said. “Our emerging digital services portfolio across Airtel IQ, AdTech, digital market place, Nxtra and digital banking positions us well to build an Airtel of the future.”
In the just-ended quarter, Airtel lost over half a million users on a net basis to end with 322.92 million subscribers.
This is the company's fifth successive quarter in the black after six straight losses as the December quarter consolidated profit stood at Rs 830 crore, compared with Rs 854 crore a year ago and Rs 1,134 crore posted in the July-September period.
Strong India mobile revenue growth was driven by tariff hikes in November across the prepaid segment, which propelled average revenue per user (ARPU) growth at India’s second largest telco, said analysts.
Airtel’s ARPU, a key performance metric for telcos, grew 6.5% sequentially to Rs 163 in the December quarter. Consolidated revenue grew 18% from a year earlier and 5.4% sequentially to Rs 29,867 crore.
“We have delivered another quarter of sustained performance across all our business segments. Overall Sequential revenue growth was at 5.4% and EBITDA margins came in at 49.9%. The recent tariff revision for mobile services has gone down well and we are exiting the quarter with an industry leading ARPU of Rs 163,” Gopal Vittal, managing director of Bharti Airtel, India, South Asia, said in a statement Tuesday.
He added that the full impact of the revised mobile tariffs will be visible in the fiscal fourth quarter ending March 31.
“Our Enterprise, Homes and Africa business continue to deliver strongly, with steady increase in contribution to the overall mix of the portfolio. Our balance sheet is robust and we are now generating healthy free cash flows. This has enabled us to recently prepay some of our spectrum liabilities to the Government thereby reducing the interest burden,” Vittal said.
Google’s recent investment is a strong validation of Airtel’s role in being a leading pioneer of India’s digital revolution, Vittal said. “Our emerging digital services portfolio across Airtel IQ, AdTech, digital market place, Nxtra and digital banking positions us well to build an Airtel of the future.”
In the just-ended quarter, Airtel lost over half a million users on a net basis to end with 322.92 million subscribers.
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