Bharti Airtel Q2 profit falls 29.8%
India's top telecommunications carrier, Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Airtel Ltd, reported its 11th consecutive quarter of profit decline as costs increased and a slowdown in customer additions limited revenue growth.
Bharti, controlled by billionaire Mittal, said on Wednesday that consolidated net profit fell 29.8 percent to 7.21 billion rupees ($132.5 million)for its fiscal second quarter ended September from 10.27 billion rupees a year earlier. Analysts had expected net profit of 7.46 billion rupees.
Bharti and its main rival, the local unit of Vodafone , are set to benefit after a court revoked the permits of several smaller rivals, which will cut the competition in a market that once boasted more than a dozen players.
The leading carriers, however, face the risk of paying out billions of dollars in regulatory fees over the next few years with the government planning to impose a surcharge on airwaves held by them and also because of reallocation, or switching, of their superior quality spectrum when their permits are renewed.
Bharti, nearly a third owned by Southeast Asia's top phone carrier, Singapore Telecommunications Ltd, operates in 20 countries across Asia and Africa and is the world's fourth-biggest mobile phone carrier by customers.
($1 = 54.4350 Indian rupees)
Airtel Q2 profit falls 29 pc to Rs 721 cr on rising costs
(PTI) Bharti Airtel, India's largest telecom operator, today reported its 11th consecutive quarter of net profit dip as rising costs and competition squeezed margins, forcing the company to look at increase in tariff.
Net profit in July-September dropped 29.7 per cent to Rs
