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Massive growth in mobile data usage has propelled Bharti Airtel’s profits to ₹1,383 crore for the second quarter ended September 30 compared with ₹512 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. This is the highest quarterly profit since March 2011.
The consolidated revenue, at ₹22,845 crore, grew 7.1 per cent over the corresponding quarter last year. Consolidated mobile data revenue, at ₹2,540 crore, increased by 66.7 per cent, contributing more than two-thirds of the incremental revenues.
Airtel’s share price increased marginally to ₹407.50 at close on Thursday on the BSE against the previous close of ₹405.15.
Mobile voice realisation in India improved to 37.69 paise per minute (up 0.90 paise Y-o-Y) due to an increase in tariffs. Mobile data revenue from Indian operations stood at ₹1,805 crore, registering a growth of 73.8 per cent. The data customer base in India was up 43 per cent and usage per customer was higher by 31.2 per cent.
Average revenue per user increased to ₹198 from ₹192 a month. Average revenue per user for data increased by 17 per cent to ₹150 a month. The number of data users nearly doubled from 28 million to 40 million, of which 15.4 million were using a 3G connection.
Africa revenues grew by 6.4 per cent in local currency terms, but the dollar appreciation depressed the reported growth to 1.9 per cent. Data revenues stood at $115 million with growth of 56.8 per cent led by an increase in the data customer base by 50.4 per cent and 24.5 per cent higher usage per customer. Airtel Money customers have risen to 5.3 million with the total value of transactions on the Airtel money platform crossing $3.3 billion during the quarter.
Net debt rises Consequent to an addition of ₹6,445 crore of deferred payment liabilities for 2G spectrum, its consolidated net debt has increased to $10,098 million.
In a statement, Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO, India & South Asia, said: “Airtel’s pioneering 4G rollout in 15 cities is now witnessing stronger customer acceptance. On the regulatory front, the recent TRAI recommendations on making more contiguous spectrum available in the upcoming auctions have the potential of transforming the industry.”
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