The Hindu Business Line : Bharti Tele: A good show

BHARTI Tele-Ventures has managed to sustain or improve the operating profit margin in every business segment such as mobile, broadband /fixed, long distance and enterprise business, reinforcing the strength of its integrated business strategy.

At the same time, the latest quarter continues to reflect the dominance of the mobile business segment in the overall financial performance of the company. This segment contributed 67 per cent of overall revenues, 59 per cent of operating profits and 86 per cent of the capital expenditure made in the second quarter ended September 30, 2004.

The key features in the performance of the mobile segment in the latest quarter over the preceding quarter are:

The operating profit margin remained fairly robust, declining by 1.4 percentage points to 33.5 per cent in the latest quarter on a sequential basis. The profit before interest and tax margin also reflected a similar trend.

Bharti market share in the All-India mobile space (GSM+CDMA) remained steady at 20.5 per cent, though its share in the net additions declined by 2.8 percentage points to 20 per cent.

Since the market share has remained steady, the average revenue per user (ARPU) has dipped only by 1.2 per cent to Rs. 509. But the average minutes per usage per user has increased by nearly 5 per cent to 321 minutes on a sequential basis. Since the price wars have started in the mobile segment in early September, the focus is bound to shift away from ARPU to this metric and it will be watched closely in the coming quarters. The dominance of the prepaid customer base at 77 per cent, however, continues.

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