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Bharti Airtel has reported a steep decline in its net profit for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018 at ₹83 crore against ₹373 crore in the corresponding period the previous year. For the full financial year, it reported a net profit of ₹1,099 crore, over 71 per cent lower than ₹3,800 crore logged in fiscal 2017.
The consolidated revenue of the quarter under review also declined by 10 per cent to ₹19,634 crore from ₹21,935 crore in January-March quarter last year. Total revenue for the full year stood at ₹83,688 crore, down by 12 per cent than the previous financial year.
“The telecom industry continues to witness below cost, artificially suppressed pricing. Industry revenues were further adversely impacted this quarter due to the reduction in international termination rates,” Gopal Vittal, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, India and South Asia, Airtel said.
He, however, maintained that Airtel continued to consolidate its leadership position quarter under review. The company’s strategic investments in data capacities, innovative digital content through Airtel TV, customer-friendly bundles and upgrade programmes led to the highest ever mobile data customer additions of 15 million during the quarter, he added.
“Usage parameters remained robust – on a year on year basis, we saw data and voice traffic grow 584 per cent and 55 per cent, respectively. We have ended the financial year with our highest ever capital expenditure of ₹24,000 crore. We intend to continue the rollout momentum next year as well,” Vittal added. As on March 31, the company had 304.2 million GSM customers in India as compared to 273.6 million in previous year, an increase of 11 per cent.
The company had 86.1 million data customers as on March 31, a growth of 50 per cent as compared to 57.4 million at the end of the previous year.
Final dividend
Meanwhile, the board of Airtel has recommended a final dividend for financial year 2017-18 of ₹2.50 per equity share (face value ₹ 5 each), subject to the approval of the shareholders in the annual general meeting, it said.
Shares of the company closed at ₹406.10 on the BSE on Tuesday, up 0.61 per cent from the previous close.
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