On the back of rising customer additions, the country?s largest mobile operator, Bharti Airtel, registered a 100% jump in net profit in the first quarter ended June 30, at Rs 1,512 crore, against Rs 755 crore in the same period last fiscal.
The company, which beat forecasts, posted a 53% rise in consolidated total revenues at Rs 5,905 crore, against Rs 3,856 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal.
Bharti?s Ebitda of Rs 2,447 crore grew 63% on a year-on-year basis. Cash profit from operations, of Rs 2,622 crore, grew 97% on a yearly basis. However, due to profit booking, the company?s share on the BSE fell 2.28% on Thursday to close at Rs 925.25.
Carrying on the trend of decreasing average realisation per user (Arpu), Bharti?s Arpu over the quarter fell to Rs 390, against Rs 406 in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal. However, minutes of use went up to 478, against 475 in the fourth quarter of last fiscal.
The total mobile subscriber base at June end stood at 42.7 million, up 15% on a sequential basis, and 85% on a year-on-year basis. Of the total subscriber base, 5.7 million were added during the quarter?the highest-ever quarterly net addition.
Bharti improved its marketshare in the mobile space to 23.5% in the quarter, up from 21.1% in the same period last fiscal. In the fourth quarter last fiscal, its marketshare stood at 22.9%.
Commenting on the results, CMD Sunil Bharti Mittal said, ?We believe that the Indian telecom sector is entering the next phase of growth. We will continue to expand our network aggressively to enhance penetration in the rural markets and be at the forefront of this growth.?