Bharti net up 131%

BS 200 SCORECARD

Bharti Tele-Ventures, the country's largest GSM service provider, today announced a 131 per cent jump in its net profit for the third quarter, in which the company added more than a million subscribers to its network.

Bharti's profit for the quarter rose to Rs 373 crore from Rs 161 crore in the corresponding period last year, while its consolidated profit for the first three quarters crossed the Rs 1,000 crore mark, a 251 per cent rise from April-December 2003.

As of December 31, 2004, the company had a subscriber base of over 10 million customers, comprising 9.8 million mobile users and 0.8 million broadband and wireline users.

Riding on its expansion plans, the service provider now offers services in 21 of the 23 telecom circles in the country as against 15 over the same period last year.

Bharti's customer base (mobile, fixed line and broadband) in 2004 witnessed a 79 per cent jump over the last year.

The revenues for the nine months period ended December 31, 2004 was Rs 5,717 crore, a growth of 66 per cent on year-on-year basis.

Total revenues for Q3 was Rs 2,153 core, a growth of 70 per cent over the corresponding period in 2003.

The company's shares also rose 48 per cent during the third quarter. Bharti Tele-ventures is 28 per cent owned by Singapore Telecommunications, and private equity giant Warburg Pincus too has a has a 15.17 per cent in the company.

As per Indian Gaap, the net profit of Bharti Televentures standalone (excluding Bharti Infotel and Bharti Cellular operations) is at Rs 26.17 crore for Q3 against Rs 11 lakh in the same perioda year ago.