Telecom major Bharti Airtel posted its fiscal first quarter profit at Rs 1,612.50 crore, up 0.3 per cent in comparison to Rs 1,606.90 crore during the corresponding quarter of last year, missing estimates. It posted revenue from operations at Rs 37,440 crore, up 14.1 per cent as against Rs 32,804.60 crore during the first quarter of FY23, backed by strong and consistent performance delivery across the portfolio. According to CNBC TV18 estimates, Airtel was expected to post a profit of Rs 2,671 crore and revenue of Rs 36,520 crore during the quarter ended June 2023. The company EBITDA stood at Rs 19,746 crore.
The overall customer base at the end of the quarter stood at ~529 million across 16 countries. While the total income during the quarter in review was at Rs 37,788.30 crore, Airtel posted a total expenses of Rs 17841.50 crore during the first quarter of FY24. Capex for the period was at Rs 10,486 crore.
The telecom company said its ARPU (average revenue per user) rose to Rs 200 in Q1FY24 as against Rs 183 in Q1FY23, on the back of sustained focus on acquiring quality customers and improved realizations on account of premiumization. The company took a one-time foreign-exchange loss of Rs 3,416 crore in Nigeria. During the quarter, Airtel’s 4G data customers went up by 24.5 million on-year. It also posted the highest ever postpaid net adds of 0.8 million in Q1FY24. Mobile data consumption was up by 21.6 per cent on-year with consumption per customer at 21.1 GB per month. Home business too continued its growth with 413K customer net additions during the quarter, while digital TV customer base was at 15.9 million in Q1FY24.
Bharti Airtel’s India business during Q1FY24
Bharti Airtel’s India business revenue was at Rs 26,375 crore, up 13.1 per cent on-year and the customer base stood at ~383 million. The mobile services India revenues increased by 12.4 per cent YoY, led by continued strong 4G customer additions and increase in ARPU. Airtel Business revenues went up by 15.8 per cent YoY by leveraging the converged portfolio of Airtel and harvesting the rapidly increasing demand for data and core connectivity related solutions. Homes business too increased by 25.4 per cent YoY led by solid customer additions. Digital TV too reported a 15.9 million customer base at the end of quarter. “Company’s focus on market specific strategy coupled with simplified pricing and convergence portfolio ensured that the business continues to hold its market share,” it said.
“The Airtel business became India’s first enterprise to power over 20 million connected devices. We continue to garner a strong share of 4G customers in the market and added 24.5 million 4G data customers to our network over last year, an increase of 11.9 per cent YoY. We rolled out ~9.2k towers in the quarter to further strengthen our network coverage and provide seamless connectivity,” the company said in a regulatory filing.
“We have delivered yet another quarter of strong and competitive growth across all our businesses. Our focus on winning quality customers and driving premiumization has helped us add 5.6 million new 4G customers and the highest ever postpaid customers in any one quarter. We exit the quarter with an industry leading ARPU of Rs 200. Homes, enterprise and our digital businesses continue to exhibit strong growth momentum, reflecting the resilience and strength of our overall portfolio. We continue to make strides on our ESG agenda and in leading the charter in India for sustainable practices,” said Gopal Vittal, MD, Bharti Airtel.