 "Bharti Airtel")
Hurt by a one-time charge, Bharti Airtel on Tuesday reported a 37.5 per cent drop in consolidated net profit (attributable to owners) for the second quarter (July-September) of FY24, falling to Rs 1,340.7 crore from Rs 2,145.2 crore a year ago. Sequentially, the net profit declined nearly 17 per cent from Rs 1,613 crore.
Driven by strong 4G and 5G customer additions, the telecom service provider’s consolidated revenue for Q2FY24 came in at Rs 37,044 crore, marking a 7.3 per cent increase on a year-on-year (Y-o-Y) basis. But vis-à-vis Q1FY24, net sales were down a little over 1 per cent. Other income in the quarter under review stood at Rs 330 crore.
Both profit and revenue figures missed analyst estimates of Rs 3,205 crore and Rs 38,096.8 crore, respectively, according to a Bloomberg survey.
Last quarter’s results included a one-time charge of Rs 1,350 crore as interest payable on an additional tax provision amount related to a Supreme Court ruling on variable license fees. It also included a Rs 220 crore charge related to the re-assessment of regulatory levies.
The company’s average revenue per user (ARPU), a key performance metric for telecom firms, rose 6.8 per cent year-on-year to Rs 203, but was up only marginally from the previous quarter.
The company’s India revenue for Q2FY24 was Rs 26,995 crore, up by 10.9 per cent Y-o-Y. The growth rate, however, was less than the 13 per cent increase seen in the preceding quarter. Mobile services in India accounted for a significant portion of the revenue at Rs 20,952 crore, growing by 11 per cent Y-o-Y in Q2 due to strong additions of 4G/5G customers. This was slightly slower than 12.4 per cent growth seen in Q1.
The telco's consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) during the quarter were Rs 19,665 crore; the Ebitda margin was 53.1 per cent, up 176 basis points Y-o-Y.
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“This has been yet another quarter of solid revenue growth and improved margins. Our India revenue continues to gain momentum and grew sequentially by 2.4 per cent. Our consolidated revenue, however, was impacted by the devaluation of the Nigerian Naira (revenue from Africa slipped 1.6 per cent). The consolidated Ebitda margin expanded to 53.1 per cent, supported by a strong war on waste programme," said Gopal Vittal, managing director of Bharti Airtel
Airtel rolled out 11,100 new towers over the past quarter to further strengthen network coverage. By the end of the quarter, Airtel had a total of 295,318 network towers (253,998 a year ago) and 876,096 mobile broadband base stations (787,498 a year ago).
The ARPU for the September quarter was significantly higher than Rs 190 in Q2FY23. Airtel's ARPU is the highest among the country’s top telecom players, beating Jio's Rs 181.7 and Vodafone Idea's Rs 142 (as last reported by both companies).
In January, Airtel began phasing out its minimum recharge plan of Rs 99 and replaced it with a Rs 155 entry-level plan offering unlimited calling.
According to data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), the industry-wide monthly ARPU was just Rs 141.14 in the third quarter of FY23.
Last quarter, Airtel added 1 million postpaid users — its highest ever — resulting in a total postpaid customer base of 214.6 million in India. These customers currently constitute approximately 6 per cent of Airtel’s total subscriber base.
The company had a total of 214.64 million 4G and 5G subscribers in Q2FY24 — an increase of 27.2 million in Q2FY23.
Mobile data consumption increased by 7.1 per cent year-on-year with consumption per customer rising to 21.7 GB per month in India. The consolidated mobile data traffic in the country stood at 15,749 million gigabytes in Q1.
