Airtel Reports Decline in Q3 Net Profit by 2.8 Percent

Bharti Airtel said on Tuesday its consolidated net profit declined by 2.8 percent to Rs. 830 crore in the third quarter of the current financial year as compared with Rs. 854 crore recorded in the corresponding period of the previous year.

The company's consolidated revenues for the third quarter of the current financial year stood at Rs. 29,867 crore, posting an increase of 18.3 percent year-on-year on a "comparable basis" and 12.6 percent YoY on a "reported basis", Bharti Airtel said in a statement released after the Board meeting.

The company's India revenues for the quarter ended December 2021 stood at Rs. 20,913 crore, posting an increase of 17.9 percent YoY on a comparable basis and 10.0 percent YoY on a reported basis.

Mobile revenues grew by 19.1 percent YoY on comparable basis on account of upside in average revenue per unit (ARPU) led by pricing intervention and continued momentum in 4G customer addition.

ARPU for the quarter came in at Rs. 163 as compared to Rs. 146 in Q3 of 2020-21 on comparable basis. This is an outcome of the company's unrelenting focus on winning with quality customers by delivering differentiated experience.

The term 'comparable' refers to the impact of Mobile Termination Charges in Mobile - India business which have been reduced to Rs.0 per MoU from Rs.0.06 per MoU, effective January 1, 2021, as per TRAI guidelines.

"We have delivered another quarter of sustained performance across all our business segments. Overall Sequential revenue growth was at 5.4 percent and EBITDA margins came in at 49.9 percent," Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO, India & South Asia, Bharti Airtel, said in a statement.

"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. The full impact of the revised mobile tariffs, however, will be visible in the fourth quarter," he said.

"Our Enterprise, Homes and Africa business continue to deliver strongly, with a 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 added.