Moody's Investors Service has revised Bharti Airtel's (Bharti) and its subsidiary Bharti Airtel Int'l (Netherlands) B.V.'s rating outlook to positive from stable.
At the same time, Moody's has affirmed Bharti's Ba1 corporate family rating (CFR) and senior unsecured rating, as well as the Ba1 rating on the backed senior unsecured notes issued by Bharti Airtel Int'l (Netherlands) B.V.
"The outlook change to positive reflects Bharti's improving operating performance and credit metrics which, if sustained, could support an upgrade to investment grade within the next 12-18 months," says Annalisa Di Chiara, a Moody's senior vice president.
"The continued expansion of profitability, particularly at its core Indian mobile business, together with a steady reduction in its balance sheet debt, is needed to mitigate the potential effect on Bharti's credit metrics of significant investments in 5G and the compounding growth of deferred liabilities during the moratorium period," added Di Chiara, who is also Moody's lead analyst for Bharti.
Bharti Airtel is the third-largest telecommunications service provider globally, based on total number of subscribers. As of 30 September 2021, it had around 471 million customers across operations in 18 countries in South Asia and Africa.
The company posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 1,134 crore in Q2 FY22 as against a consolidated net loss of Rs 763.2 crore registered in Q2 FY21. The telecom operator posted quarterly revenues of Rs 28,326 crore, rising 13% YoY on a reported basis.
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