Airtel Q3 Results: Airtel Q3 Results: Net profit falls 3% YoY to Rs 830 cr; ARPU rises to Rs 163

NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel on Tuesday said its consolidated net profit after exceptional items fell 2.8 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 830 crore for the December quarter compared with Rs 854 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Total revenues for the quarter rose 12.6 per cent YoY to Rs 29,867 crore from Rs 26,518 crore in the year-ago quarter.

Ebitda for the quarter rose 22.4 per cent YoY to Rs 14,905 crore, with Ebitda margin expanding to 49.9 per cent from 45.9 per cent YoY.

The mobile average revenue per user (ARPU) increased to Rs 163 in the quarter compared with Rs 146 in the year-ago quarter.

Overall, the customer base for Airtel stood at 48.50 crore across 16 countries.

India revenue rose 17.9 per cent YoY on a comparable basis and 10 per cent YoY on a reported basis. Ebitda margin for the India business came in at 49.8 per cent, up 458 basis points YoY.

EBIT margin at 15.9 per cent, up 313 basis points YoY. The customer base in India stood at 35.6 crore, while the capex incurred in the country stood at Rs 4,654 crore.

In the case of Africa business, revenue in constant currency were up 20 per cent YoY, Ebitda margin at 49.5 per cent, up 268 bps YoY, while EBIT margin at 33.7 per cent was up 407 bps YoY. The customer base there stood at 12.58 crore. Airtel incurred a capex spend of Rs 1,397 crore in that region during the quarter.

Mobile revenues rose 19.1 per cent YoY on account of upside in ARPU led by pricing intervention and continued momentum in 4G customer addition, Bharti Airtel said.

The rise in ARPU was the outcome of “the company’s unrelenting focus on winning with quality customers by delivering differentiated experience,” Airtel said, adding that 4G data customers increased 18.1 per cent YoY to 19.55 crore.

The company has added 2.99 crore 4G customers to its network over last year.

“ARPU continues to be the best in industry, average data usage per data customer at 18.3 GBs per month and voice usage per customer at 1,061 mins per month. We rolled out additional 7,800 towers and 31,000 mobile broadband base stations in the quarter to provide ubiquitous connectivity and superior network experience,” the company said.

Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO, India & South Asia, said: “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.”

Vittal said enterprise, homes and Africa businesses 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.

Google’s recent investment is a strong validation of Airtel’s role in being a leading pioneer of India’s digital revolution. Our emerging digital services portfolio across Airtel IQ, AdTech, digital marketplace, Nxtra and digital banking positions us well to build an Airtel of the future,” he said.