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Bharti Airtel on Tuesday posted a consolidated net loss of ₹763 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, as compared to a net loss of ₹23,045 crore in the corresponding period last year.
However, the company reported highest ever consolidated quarterly revenue of ₹25,785 crore during the July-September quarter, up 22 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) as compared with ₹21,131 crore in same period last year.
The India revenue for the second quarter also grew by 22 per cent y-o-y to ₹18,747 crore, the company said, adding that mobile revenue grew by 26 per cent.
“This is an outcome of the company’s unrelenting focus on winning with quality customers on the back of a solid network, aspirational brand and delivery of a differentiated experience. Resultantly, average revenue per user (ARPU) for the quarter is at ₹162 as compared to ₹128 in the second quarter last year,” it said.
The 4G data customers at 152.7 million are up by 14.4 million for the quarter, the Sunil Mittal-owned company said, adding that the usage metrics remain best in class and the data usage per subscriber is at 16 GBs per month.
Steady momentum
“Despite being a seasonally weak quarter, we delivered a strong performance with revenue growing at 22 per cent y-o-y. Our data consumption grew by 58 per cent y-o-y which reflects strong engagement of customers on our network. This further underscores our DNA of customer obsession and delivering brilliant experiences through a future ready network and innovative digital platforms,” Gopal Vittal, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, India and South Asia, said.
Other lines of business also continued with steady growth momentum, with Airtel business growing 7.5 per cent y-o-y, he said.
“We stay committed to improving the profitability of the business. Our continued focus on ARPU improvement and cost optimisation led to EBITDA margin expansion by over 158 bps in the quarter sequentially,” he added.
On adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues, the company said the Group has made a representation to the government that it has already paid more than 10 per cent of the total dues as demanded by the Department of Telecommunications and will ensure ongoing compliance with the Supreme Court’s orders.
As on September 30, the company had 440 million customers, an increase of 7 per cent as compared to 411 million in the corresponding quarter last year. Total minutes of usage on the network during the quarter were 952 billion, representing a growth of 20.5 per cent as compared to 790 billion in the corresponding quarter last year.
Mobile data traffic grew around 59 per cent to 7,949 billion MBs during the quarter as compared to 5,005 billion MBs in the corresponding quarter last year, the company said.
The company had a total of 19,138 employees as of September 30, as compared to 19,207 employees in September 30, 2019 and 19,650 employees as of June 30 this year.
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