Bharti Airtel has reported a consolidated net profit of ₹1,462 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, down 31 per cent from ₹2,113 crore in the corresponding quarter last year, mainly due to high expenditure during the period.

However, total revenue rose 8 per cent to ₹25,546 crore during the period against ₹23,671 crore in the April-June quarter last year.

“The year has begun well with revenue growth of 10.3 per cent year-on-year and continued revenue market share gains. In continuation of our Project Leap announcement, we have now transparently opened up our entire mobile network to our customers,” said Gopal Vittal Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (India and South Asia).

The company said its consolidated capex rose 23 per cent to ₹4,925 crore during the quarter from ₹3,992 crore in the first quarter of fiscal year 2015.

It said the India revenue was up 10 per cent year-on-year (YoY) at ₹19,155 crore, led by growth of 9 per cent in mobile, 11 per cent in Homes, 22 per cent in Digital TV and a little above 10 per cent in ‘Airtel Business’.

Mobile data revenue crossed ₹3,500 crore in the quarter and data volume grew by 55 per cent YoY, it said.

Airtel said its mobile broadband data customer base rose 68 per cent from 21.7 million in the first quarter last fiscal year to 63.6 million in the first quarter this year.

Mobile data average revenue per user (ARPU) was up ₹21 YoY to ₹202, the company said. The company had over 358 million customers across its operations as of June end.

The company’s total employees stood at 24,883 at the end of June as against 24,670 as of June 30, 2015. The company’s consolidated net debt, excluding the deferred payment liabilities to the Department of Telecom, and finance lease obligations, decreased to ₹46,534.92 crore ($6,891 million) from ₹50,316.6 crore ($7,451 million) in the previous quarter, it added.

Shares of Airtel closed at ₹372.55 on the BSE on Wednesday, up 0.80 per cent from the previous close.

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