The telecom major reported a net loss of Rs 763.20 crore in Q2 September 2020, lower than net loss of Rs 23,045 crore in Q2 September 2019.
Consolidated revenues jumped 22% to Rs 25,785 crore in Q2 September 2020 over Q2 September 2019. Pre-tax profit (before exceptional items) stood at Rs 567 crore in Q2 September 2020 as against a pre-tax loss (before exceptional items) of Rs 623 crore in Q2 September 2019.
Current tax expense for the quarter soared 51.69% to Rs 649.40 crore as against Rs 428.10 crore in Q2 September 2019.
An exceptional charge of Rs 49.30 crore during the quarter ended 30 September 2020 comprises of cost relating to employee restructuring in one of the group's subsidiaries.
During the quarter, EBITDA rose 32.6% year-on-year to Rs 11,848 crore. EBITDA margin stood at 46% in Q2 September 2020, higher than 42.3% Q2 September 2019. EBIT increased by 121.4% YoY to Rs 4,412 crore. EBIT margin stood at 17.1%, up from 9.4% last year.
Consolidated mobile data traffic stood at 7,403 petabytes (PBs) in the quarter with a healthy YoY growth of 58.8%.
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India revenues for Q2 FY21 stood at Rs 18,747 crore increased by 22% YoY. Mobile revenues grew by 26.0%. Mobile ARPU stood at Rs 162 in Q2FY21 compared with Rs 128 in Q2FY20.
The company's 4G data customers increased by 48.1% to 152.7 million compared to the previous year while traffic increased to 77.3 PB/day vs 48.9 PB/day in the corresponding quarter last year.
The company's Homes business segment witnessed a revenue growth of 7.3% YoY. Airtel Business continues to accelerate its momentum with 7.5% YoY growth, driven by data demand across global business and enterprise & government business. Digital TV witnessed a growth of 1.9% YoY on an underlying basis, on the back of strong customer additions of 549K during the quarter.
The Net Debt-EBITDA ratio (annualized) and including the impact of leases as on 30 September 2020 is at 2.91 times as compared to 3.30 times as on 30 September 2019. Excluding pending AGR dues, the Net Debt-EBITDA ratio (annualized) is at 2.41 times as on 30 September 2020.
Supreme Court ruling on AGR matter: The Supreme Court in its judgment dated 1 September 2020 reaffirmed that the demand raised by the DoT stated in its modification application as final and no dispute or re-assessment shall be undertaken. In addition, Supreme Court directed that the telecom operators shall make a payment of 10% of the total dues as demanded by DoT, by 31 March 2021 and remaining dues in yearly installments commencing 1 April 2021 till 31 March 2031, payable by 31 March of every succeeding financial year. The group has represented to DoT that it has already paid more than 10% of the total dues as demanded by DoT and will ensure ongoing compliance with the Supreme Court's order.
Commenting on the Q2 performance, Gopal Vittal, the managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO), India & South Asia, of Bharti Airtel, stated: "Despite being a seasonally weak quarter, we delivered a strong performance with revenue growing at 22% Y-o-Y. In the mobile segment, we added over 14 million 4G customers and grew revenues by 26%. Our focus on building the most aspirational brand in Indian Telecom to win quality customers is delivering results. Our data consumption grew by 58% Y-o-Y which reflects strong engagement of customers on our network. This further underscores our DNA of customer obsession and delivering brilliant experiences through a future ready network and innovative digital platforms. Other lines of business also continued with steady growth momentum, with Airtel business growing 7.5% Y-o-Y."
"We stay committed to improving the profitability of the business. Our continued focus on ARPU improvement and cost optimization led to EBITDA margin expansion by over 158 bps in the quarter sequentially."
Shares of Bharti Airtel slipped 0.24% to close at Rs 433 on BSE. Bharti Airtel is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 18 countries across Asia and Africa.
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