Bharti Airtel Q3 net profit down 40.62 per cent
02 Feb 2011
Telecom giant Bharti Airtel today posted a 40.62 per cent dip in third quarter net profit at Rs1,303.3 crore, hit mainly by an increase in spectrum charges and one-time costs pertaining to the relaunch of its brand.
The telco had reported net income of Rs2,194.9 crore in the October-December quarter of the previous fiscal. The company's total revenues shot up 51.14 per cent to Rs15,576 crore in the December quarter from Rs10,305.3 crore in the year-ago period.
On a year-on-year basis, the company's income before taxes was down on an increase in spectrum charges in India (Rs80 crore) and a rise in net interest outgo (Rs471 crore), in addition to the one-time brand relaunch cost and forex losses, according to the company.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, Bharti Airtel's income before taxes, was down on account of one-time brand relaunch cost of Rs340 crore. In addition, adverse foreign currency fluctuation in Africa and India resulted in an exchange loss of Rs151 crore for the company in the third quarter of the 2011 fiscal, it added.
The company's average revenue per person (ARPU) was Rs198 in the December quarter, as against Rs202 in the September quarter.
The outlook for the Indian mobile market, the world's second biggest and the fastest growing by wireless customers, is looking up after last year's stabilisation of prices following cut-rate competition which saw call prices fall steeply in late 2009.
