Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Tuesday reported a 91.5 per cent year-on-year rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,588 crore for the three months ended December 2022, helped by competitive growth across businesses.
Total revenue rose nearly 20 per cent to Rs 35,804 crore in the third quarter of the current financial year "backed by strong and consistent performance delivery across the portfolio", the company said in a statement.
Its consolidated net income (after exceptional items) stood at Rs 1,588 crore for the just ended quarter, translating into an increase of 91.5 per cent year-on-year.
The consolidated net income (before exceptional items) was at Rs 1,994 crore, up 147 per cent compared to the year-ago period.
Bharti Airtel managing director Gopal Vittal said the company delivered another quarter of consistent and competitive growth across businesses.
"Revenue grew sequentially by 3.7 per cent while EBITDA margin expanded to 52 per cent.
"Our strategy of winning quality customers has helped us add 6.4 million 4G customers and exit the quarter with an industry leading ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) of Rs 193," Vittal said.
Bharti Airtel's revenue in India grew 19 per cent to Rs 24,961.5 crore in the 2022 December quarter from Rs 20,912.7 crore a year ago.
The total capital expenditure of the company rose 52 per cent to Rs 9,313.6 crore in the latest December quarter from Rs 6,101.5 crore in the same period a year ago.
The increase was mainly on account of 5G network rollout in India.
In India, the company's capital expenditure jumped 74 per cent to Rs 8,095.4 crore during the 2022 December quarter from Rs 4,653.8 crore a year ago.
According to Vittal, the higher capital expenditure led to a 12 per cent decline in the company's operating free cash flow to Rs 5,071.1 crore.
The telco's 5G rollout is on track to cover all towns and key rural areas by March 2024, the top honcho said.
India Mobile ARPU increased to Rs 193 during the reporting quarter from Rs 163 in December 2021 quarter, according to the company.
The company had reported ARPU of Rs 190 in the 2022 September quarter.
Vittal said that postpaid, enterprise, homes as well as Africa business sustained their momentum while the DTH business showed signs of growth in an industry that continues to be under pressure.
The company reported a 5.8 per cent growth in its global customer base at 51 crore, including 36.92 crore customers in India.
The mobile subscriber base of Bharti Airtel in India grew 2.9 per cent year-on-year to 33.22 crore, including 1.8 crore postpaid customers.
The 4G data customers base increased 10.8 per cent to 21.67 crore and data consumption per customer per month on Airtel network increased by 11 per cent to 20.29 GB from about 18 GB on a year-on-year basis.
Airtel Africa's net income grew 22.17 per cent to Rs 788 crore in the latest December quarter.
In the year-ago period, the same stood at Rs 645 crore.
The Africa revenue jumped around 22 per cent to Rs 11,087.6 crore in the third quarter of the current fiscal from Rs 9,105.3 crore in December 2021 quarter.
At the end of the 2022 December quarter, the company's net debt increased nearly 32 per cent to Rs 2.09 lakh crore from Rs 1.59 lakh crore a year ago.
