Forex losses and increased interest cost have pulled down Bharti Airtel’s second quarter profit by 38 per cent to Rs 1,027 crore at the end of September 30, 2011 compared with Rs 1,661 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Consolidated revenues grew 13 per cent to Rs 17,270 crore as subscriber base grew 22 per cent to 237 million, including 48 million in Africa. Revenues from Africa grew 22.9 per cent to $1,030 million.

The company said that recent tariff hikes have begun to take effect, offsetting some of the inflationary and cost increases impacting the sector.

Appreciation of dollar against the rupee and several African currencies resulted in forex loss of Rs 239 crore compared to a gain of Rs 249 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. Roll out of 3G services has resulted in higher amortisation cost of Rs 164 crore and increased interest cost of Rs Rs 115 crore.

In a statement, Mr Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman & Managing Director, Bharti Group, said: “The arrest of continuously declining prices in India augurs well for the telecom industry. We look forward to constructive deliberations on the draft National Telecom Policy 2011 recommendations, for promoting the Government’s broadband vision and viability of the sector.”

Total number of minutes on the company’s network was down marginally by a per cent at 250,446 million minutes.

Average revenue per user in India was down 4 per cent to Rs 183 ($7.3 in Africa) and average minutes of usage per user per month was down 5 per cent to 423 minutes. But average revenue per minute moved up by a per cent to 43.2 paise due to recent tariff hikes.

Monthly churn, which is the rate at which subscribers leave the network, was at 7.2 per cent compared with 6.4 per cent in the corresponding quarter last year. Non-voice revenue continued to contribute around 14.5 per cent of the total revenues despite the launch of 3G services.

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