Bharti Airtel on Wednesday reported a sequential rise in consolidated revenue and operating profit for the January-March quarter, aided by growth in its India business, rising data consumption and continued momentum in Africa operations, though net profit came in below Bloomberg estimates.
ARPU Pivot
However, the company’s average revenue per user (Arpu) was down to Rs 257 compared with Rs 259 in the December quarter. This is the first sequential decline in Airtel’s Arpu after three consecutive quarters of increase.
The telecom operator posted consolidated revenue of Rs 55,383 crore during the quarter, up 2.6% from Rs 53,982 crore in the October-December quarter and above Bloomberg estimates of Rs 54,614 crore. Consolidated earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) rose 2.9% sequentially to Rs 32,038 crore from Rs 31,144 crore, ahead of Bloomberg estimates of Rs 31,707 crore. Net profit attributable to owners of the company rose 10.5% quarter-on-quarter to Rs 7,325 crore from Rs 6,631 crore, but was below Bloomberg estimates of Rs 7,690 crore.
De-leveraging Success
The company’s consolidated Ebitda margin expanded marginally to 57.8% from 57.7% in the preceding quarter, while net debt declined further to Rs 1.65 lakh crore at the end of March from Rs 1.83 lakh crore in December, reflecting stronger cash generation and lower leverage.
Revenue from India operations rose 0.9% sequentially to Rs 39,566 crore. Within the India business, mobile services revenue rose 2.9% sequentially to Rs 28,831 crore, helped by premiumisation, higher smartphone penetration and rising data consumption.
Mobile customer base increased to 373.2 million from 368.5 million in the previous quarter, while data customers rose to 299.1 million from 294.1 million. The company had 296.8 million 4G and 5G customers at the end of March, accounting for 80.1% of its total customer base, compared with 79.8% in the previous quarter.
Voice traffic rose 1.1% sequentially to 1.29 trillion minutes during the quarter. Total data usage on the network increased to 28 billion GB from 26.1 billion GB in the December quarter, while average data usage per customer rose to 31.4 GB per month from 29.8 GB, indicating continued growth in video streaming and 5G-led consumption.
Commenting on the results, Gopal Vittal, executive vice chairman said, “our balance sheet strength is underpinned by disciplined execution and prudent capital allocation. At the same time, we believe further tariff repair remains critical to support continued investments and long-term value creation”.