Bharti Airtel Records 89 Percent Jump in Q2 Profit Amid Higher Subscriber Realisation

India's second largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Monday posted an 89 percent year-on-year rise in consolidated net profit for second quarter ended September 2022 to Rs. 2,145 crore, amid improved average realisation per subscriber.

The total revenue rose 22 percent year on year to Rs. 34,527 crore during the just-ended quarter, according to a statement.

Airtel CEO Gopal Vittal said the company is now rolling out 5G and exuded confidence that Airtel 5G Plus will deliver the best experience in India.

"At the same time we remain concerned about the low ROCE (Return on Capital Employed) that our business delivers due to pricing that is the lowest in the world. Given the large investments required to drive digital adoption in India, we believe there is a need for tariff correction," Vittal said.

Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) for the quarter stood at Rs. 190 as compared to Rs. 153 in Q2 FY22 on the back of the "continued focus on quality customers, feature phone to smartphone upgradation and data monetisation", the Airtel statement said.

A few days back, India's largest telecom operator Reliance Jio also posted their quarterly results, sharing a 28 percent year-on-year jump in its net profit for the September quarter to Rs. 4,518 crore. Meanwhile, the revenue from operations of Reliance Jio (RJIL) jumped 20.2 percent to Rs. 22,521 crore for the just-ended quarter from Rs. 18,735 crore in the year-ago period.

The company said it is geared up to complete the 5G rollout by December 2023. The 5G rollout, it said, will further improve subscriber mix and per capita metrics and accelerate data growth.

Jio Platforms' net profit increased by about 27 percent to Rs. 4,729 crore during the reported quarter.