New Delhi: Bharti Airtel reported close to 33% on-year surge in September quarter profit to ?9,015 crore, as faster migration to postpaid plans and costlier plans increased its average revenue per user (ARPU) to ?271, widening its lead over Reliance Jio.
The telecom operator, however, missed analysts' profit estimates for the second quarter of this financial year, as gains from subscriber additions and upgrades to costlier plans by customers were offset by higher network operating costs. Brokerage Nuvama, for instance, had forecast a net profit of ?9,955 crore, while JPMorgan pegged it at ?9,146 crore. Consolidated net income before exceptional items was 11.9% higher than Q1's ?8,057 crore.
Consolidated net income before exceptional items was Rs 6,792 crore a year earlier. The figure exceeds the Rs 8,387 crore Jio Platforms reported last week, though Bharti Airtel's includes its African operations. Profit before tax increased 27% to Rs 15,608 crore.
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Consolidated revenue grew 16.7% year-on-year to Rs 60,878 crore, up 4% sequentially. The company's India revenue increased 9.4% to Rs 42,308 crore, while that from Africa grew 25.7% in reported terms and 20.6% in constant currency.
ARPU, the key profitability metric in telecom, increased from Rs 256 a year ago and Rs 264 in the April-June quarter. This signifies a 5.9% annual gain, against about 3.5% for Jio, whose ARPU improved to Rs 218.8 from Rs 211.4. The gap between the two widened to roughly Rs 52 a month from about Rs 45 a year earlier.
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The telco's India mobile revenue increased 10.1% year-on-year and 3.4% sequentially to Rs 30,943 crore. Executive vice chairman Gopal Vittal said in a statement that the quarterly growth was "backed by our strategy of portfolio premiumisation and winning quality customers."
The trade-off was subscriber growth: Bharti Airtel's India mobile base expanded by about 716,000 to 377.2 million, down sharply from 3.3 million in the June quarter. Monthly churn edged up to 2.9% from 2.6%. Its India user base increased by 6.8 million users to about 498.7 million, lagging Jio, which added 9.1 million subscribers during the quarter, taking its base to 542.4 million. Bharti Airtel's average data usage per subscriber per month increased 6.1% quarter-on-quarter to 36.5 GB, compared to Jio's 44.2 GB.
Consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) increased 18% to Rs 35,240 crore, with the margin expanding to 57.9% from 57.4%. India Ebitda stood at Rs 25,729 crore at a margin of 60.8%, compared with Jio's 54.1%, though the business mix differs. Bharti Airtel's India figures include tower and enterprise operations.
