Bharti Airtel Reports 61 Percent Jump in Q1 Net Profit

Telecom service provider Bharti Airtel's net profit shot up 61 percent for the first quarter (April to June) of 2014-15, a company statement said on Tuesday.

The company posted net profit of Rs. 1,108.5 crore for the first quarter of 2014-15 compared to Rs. 668.9 crore posted during the corresponding quarter in 2013-14.

"While the pace across all segments has been satisfying, mobile data and DTH (direct-to-home) stood out with growths of 68.2 percent and 20.7 percent respectively. The industry awaits more 3G spectrum being made available even as we look forward to the implementation of policies relating to spectrum sharing and trading. These have become essential to deliver sustained broadband growth and high quality service," Gopal Vittal, managing director and chief executive officer, India and South Asia said.

The consolidated revenues for the first quarter of 2014-15 at Rs. 22,962 crore grew by 13.3 percent over the corresponding quarter last year. Consolidated mobile data revenues at Rs. 2,204 crore grew by 73.9 percent year-on-year, which is consistently contributing more than one-third of the incremental revenues, the statement said.

The overall customer base of Bharti Airtel stands at 299.9 million across 20 countries, was up 9.1 percent year-on-year. The news of its 300-million-strong customer base was announced on Monday by the company, including customers across its mobile, fixed line, DSL and DTH services.

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Bharti Airtel, which began operations in 1995, reached the 100 million customers mark in 2009 and crossed the 200 million mark in 2012.

"The latest 100 million customers have joined the Airtel family in less than two years. The company ranks as the fourth-largest mobile service provider globally and second-largest globally outside of China," Airtel said in a statement.

Written with agency inputs