The Hindu Business Line : Bharti Tele third-quarter net profit up 25 pc

BHARTI Tele-Ventures' consolidated net profit grew 25 per cent for the third quarter of the current fiscal, aided by its highest-ever quarterly growth in subscriber base and increased minutes of usage, and despite a moderate fall in average revenue per user.

Consolidated net profit for the quarter amounted to Rs 545 crore as against Rs 436 crore during the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

Although this is not in line with the growth earlier charted by the company (due to continued investments as well as subscriber inflow under the "lifetime prepaid" category which affected margins) the company reported 41 per cent EBITDA increase, at Rs 1,120 crore (Rs 794 crore).

EBITDA margin for the quarter stood at 37 per cent, slightly lower than 37.3 per cent a year ago.

This rode a 42 per cent growth in total revenues, which stood at Rs 3,026 crore (Rs 2,132 crore). Of this mobile revenues accounted for 72 per cent. Mobile revenues rose 48 per cent to Rs 2,174 crore.

Cash profit from operations amounted to Rs 1,028 crore (Rs 798 crore), registering a 29 per cent growth while profit before tax grew 34 per cent to Rs 639 crore (Rs 475 crore).

The company added 23.98 lakh subscribers during the quarter, the highest-ever quarterly addition it has made. With respect to a year-ago, its total customer base stood 65 per cent higher, to touch 1.75 crore as on December 31, 2005.

Its wireless market share was 21.6 per cent, its wireless customers numbering 98.26 lakh. Although ARPU was lower, at Rs 470, down from Rs 476, average usage minutes rose to 411 from 388.

Among its non-wireless businesses, Bharti Infotel's revenues grew 30 per cent, while long-distance revenues grew 29 per cent and enterprise revenues 30 per cent.

"The Indian wireless market continued to expand and with offers like lifetime validity, we have once again redefined the paradigms in the mobile industry," said Mr Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman and Group Managing Director, Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd. "The commissioning of SEA-ME-WE-4 submarine cable network has further extended our global reach and we see a lot of opportunities in the data segment," he said.

Bharti Tele-Ventures gained Rs 3.20 on BSE during the day, its scrip closing at Rs 347.45.

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