Airtel Rides Pandemic-Induced Subscriber Gain to Report Quarterly Profit

Bharti Airtel swung to a quarterly profit on Wednesday, as the Indian telecom firm added more subscribers and saw higher data usage during the coronavirus-led work-from-home trend.

With the December-quarter profit, India's second-largest telecom operator has snapped a streak of six loss-making quarters during which the company has seen a growth in market share even as it grappled with a tariff war and demands to pay massive government dues.

Airtel's subscriber base in India grew to 336.2 million, with the company adding 12.9 million 4G subscribers during the last three months of 2020 to reach 165.6 million.

The telco has been gaining subscribers over the past few months, with analysts pointing out that the firm has also seen gains in some of the key markets of loss-making rival Vodafone Idea.

Average revenue per user for the quarter rose 23 percent to Rs. 166.

Airtel's consolidated profit for the three months ended Deember 31 came in at Rs. 854 crores from a loss of Rs. 1,035 crores in the year-ago period.

The firm's consolidated revenue from operations surged 24.2 percent to Rs. 26,500 crores on gains in subscriber base and higher tariffs.

© Thomson Reuters 2021

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