Bharti Airtel on Monday reported a 14.2% quarter-on-quarter rise in its consolidated net profit for the July–September period, driven by a sharp fall in finance costs and sustained growth in premium users. The telecom major’s net profit stood at Rs 6,792 crore, up from Rs 5,948 crore in the April–June quarter, slightly ahead of Bloomberg’s estimate of Rs 6,740 crore.
The increase in profit was primarily supported by a 14.8% decline in net finance costs, which stood at Rs 4,427 crore in Q2, coupled with a steady rise in premium subscribers that bolstered average revenue per user (Arpu). The company’s Arpu improved to Rs 256 from Rs 250 in the preceding quarter, reflecting its continued focus on premiumisation and an improved customer mix.
Consolidated revenues rose 5.4% sequentially to Rs 52,145 crore, surpassing Bloomberg’s projection of Rs 50,885 crore. The uptick was driven by robust performance across its India and Africa operations, with strong traction in the mobile and home broadband segments.
India business revenues grew 2.94% q-o-q to Rs 38,690 crore, supported by a 2.62% rise in the mobile business, which touched Rs 28,117 crore during the quarter. The company attributed this to sustained customer additions, expanding 5G penetration, and healthy data consumption trends.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) increased 6.2% q-o-q to Rs 29,919 crore, ahead of Bloomberg’s estimate of Rs 28,508 crore. The Ebitda margin stood at 56.9% against 57.2% in the preceding quarter.
The company’s management said the performance was bolstered by premiumisation trends and continued momentum in digital and enterprise services. “Our India mobile business delivered 2.6% sequential revenue growth, adding 5.1 million smartphone customers. Homes business sustained strong momentum with 951,000 new customers and 8.5% revenue growth,” Gopal Vittal, vice-chairman and managing director, said in a statement.
The B2B segment, Airtel Business, reported a 4.3% q-o-q increase in revenue, driven by expanding digital offerings under its Xtelify platform. The company also launched ‘Airtel Cloud’, a sovereign, telco-grade cloud service paired with an AI-powered suite to enhance operational efficiency for global telecoms.
Airtel’s network capacity continued to expand, with the addition of 2,479 towers and 20,841 mobile broadband base stations during the quarter. Total data traffic on its network rose 7% sequentially to 24.45 billion GB, while voice traffic reached 1.24 trillion minutes, up 0.6% sequentially.
Bharti Airtel continues to trail Reliance Jio in average monthly data usage per customer at 28.3 GB compared to Jio’s 38.7 GB. However, Airtel maintained its industry lead in Arpu at Rs 256, far ahead of Jio’s Rs 211.4 underscoring its focus on quality subscribers.
The company’s premium postpaid segment saw net additions of 0.95 million users during the quarter, taking the total postpaid base to 27.5 million. Around 79.5% of its total user base comprises 4G and 5G subscribers.