Bharti Airtel Posts 135 Percent Jump in Q3 Net Profit

Riding on customer acquisition and mobile data growth, telecom major Bharti Airtel's third quarter (October-December) consolidated Q3 net profit zoomed 135.4 percent year-on-year, the company said Wednesday.

The company posted consolidated profit of Rs. 1,436 crore for the third quarter (Q3) compared to Rs. 610.2 crore posted during the corresponding quarter in 2013-14, a company statement said.

"Airtel's revenue growth in India has continued to accelerate. Revenue growth of 12.6 percent in Q3 is the highest in 9 quarters. We remain focused on driving topline through stepped up customer acquisitions with continued focus on churn, ensuring pricing stability, and path-breaking innovations in mobile data," Gopal Vittal, managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO), India & South Asia, said.

"Our mobile data growth is at 74.3 percent in Q3. On the regulatory front, the industry has welcomed the announcement of the timetable for the spectrum auctions in March 2015," he said.

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The consolidated revenues stood at Rs. 23,217 crores for the third quarter registering a growth of 5.8 percent compared to the like quarter of the previous year at Rs. 21,939 crores.

The revenues from India grew 13 percent at Rs. 16,256 crores in the third quarter while in the Africa region, the revenues declined by 5.5 percent at Rs. 6,827 crores in the same quarter.

Data revenue is now 16.2 percent of mobile revenues of the company. Mobile voice rate was up at Rs. 0.3767 in Q3 2014-15 from Rs. 0.3723 in Q3 in 2013-14, it said.

Airtel is present in 17 African countries. Africa revenues grew by 3.9 percent year-on-year in local currency terms, but the reported revenues were down by 5.3 percent due to appreciation of the US dollar.

"Airtel has continued to grow in Q3 despite economic turmoil in several commodity-rich countries, consequent to a sharp slide in crude oil and metal prices. We have maintained our focus on growing customer base and topline in a cost-efficient manner," Christian de Faria, MD and CEO, Africa, said.

"Significant depreciation in most African currencies especially the Nigerian Naira has however depressed the reported results in dollar terms. We are hopeful that the economies and wallet spends will quickly adjust to the new situation," he added.