The telecom major's consolidated net profit jumped 53.77% to Rs 2,442.2 crore in Q3 FY24 as against Rs 1,588.2 crore reported in Q3 FY23.
Revenue from operations increased 5.85% YoY to Rs 37,899.5 crore in Q3 FY24. The growth was partially impacted by devaluation of African currencies during the periodProfit before exceptional items and tax was at Rs 4,238.6 crore in Q3 FY24, registering a degrowth of 2.76% from Rs 4,359.1 crore recorded in Q3 FY23. Exceptional items stood at Rs 130.2 crore during the quarter.
EBITDA increased 7.75% to Rs 20,044 crore in Q3 FY24 as compared with Rs 18,601 crore . EBITDA margin improved to 52.9% in Q3 FY24 from 52% in Q3 FY23. Improvement in EBITDA margin was on the back of operating leverage and cost efficiencies arising from our War on Waste program.
Total capex spend for the quarter was Rs 9,274 crore. Consolidated mobile data traffic at 16,656 PBs in the quarter with a healthy YoY growth of 22.2%.
During the quarter, overall customer base stood at approximately 551 million across 16 countries.
India revenues for Q3 FY24 were at Rs 27,811 crore, increased by 11.4% YoY. Mobile revenues grew by 11.8% YoY on account of improved realisation as well as strong 4G/5G customer additions during the year.
Average revenue per user (ARPU) for the quarter stood at Rs 208, up 7.77% as compared to Rs 193 in Q3 FY23 driven by consistent strategy of acquiring high value customers and improved realizations.
The telecom operator said that it strengthened its leadership position in Postpaid segment with net adds of 0.9 Mn (excluding internet of things IoT). In Q3 FY24, it has reached a customer base of 48.3 million (including IoT).
The telecom operator continued to garner strong market share of 4G/5G customers and added 28.2 million 4G/5G data customers to its network over last year, an increase of 13% YoY. It continued to deliver industry leading ARPU along with growing average data usage per data customer at 22 GBs/month.
Airtel Business maintained its industry leading organic revenue growth of 8.7% YoY by leveraging the converged portfolio of Airtel and harvesting the rapidly increasing demand for data and core connectivity related solutions. Its emerging digital products are also yielding strong results.
Airtel's Homes business maintained its rapid growth trajectory and delivered a revenue growth of 23% YoY, result of companys strategy to harness the growing demand of high-speed and reliable broadband in India. The firm focus on digitization and acquiring high value customers led to 3,59,000 customer additions in the quarter to reach to a total base of 7.3 million.
Digital TV continued to consolidate its strong market position with 16.1 million customer base at the end of quarter.
The net debt-EBITDA ratio (annualized) and including the impact of leases as on 31 December 2023 is at 2.52 times
Meanwhile, Africa revenue (in constant currency) was up 21% YoY. EBITDA margin stood at 49.4%, up 89 bps YoY. EBIT margin was at 33.4%. Customer base stood at 151 million. Capex for the quarter was Rs 1,515 crore.
In January 2024, the company has acquired 97.1% stake in Beetel teletech along with its 49% stake in Dixon electro appliances. This acquisition is a part of companys strategy to enable indigenization initiative within its ecosystem of telecom products, in-line with the Governments policy of Make in India and add distribution and service capabilities (including system integration).
Gopal Vittal, MD, said, We have delivered yet another quarter of consistent and competitive growth across all our businesses. Revenue from India business sustained its momentum and grew sequentially by 3.0%, while the consolidated revenue was impacted by the devaluation of the Nigerian Naira and Malawian Kwacha.
The quarter witnessed a strong growth trajectory for the postpaid and Homes business, while our DTH business added 388k net adds the highest in the last 12 quarters. We remain on course with our strategy of premiumization that helped us add 7.4 million 4G/5G customers and exit the quarter with an industry leading ARPU of Rs 208. Even at this ARPU, our return on capital employed however, continues to be low at 9.4 percent. To ensure industry health, tariff repair is extremely critical.
Bharti Airtel is a global communications solutions provider with over 500 million customers in 17 countries across South Asia and Africa.
The scrip declined 3.20% to settle at Rs 1,113.75 on the BSE.
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