Airtel set to hit million-subscriber mark

Bharti Airtel Ltd seems set to become the first Indian mobile operator with 100 million subscribers nationwide, in all probability within a few weeks. At the end of March, Bharti's overall subscriber base was 96.6 million. After including the subscribers added in April, the company expects its total subscriber base to hit 99 million.

Airtel added as many as 32.5 million subscribers in 2008-09, with an average of 2.7 million subscribers per month. It added a record 8.37 million new subscribers in the January-March quarter, according to a statement issued by company on Wednesday.

The numbers show that Bharti's mobile subscriber base alone is already 97 million (93.92 million of its 96.6 million subscribers in March were mobile subscribers). Somewhere in the middle of May its overall subscriber base is likely to cross 100 million and by May-end / early June its mobile subscriber base is expected to cross the 100-million mark. This means that nearly one of every 13 Indians will be using an Airtel subscription by that time.

Bharti Airtel also reported a 21 per cent increase in its net profit to Rs2,239 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2009 compared with Rs1,853 crore for the previous quarter last year. Total revenues increased 26 per cent to Rs9,825 crore from Rs7,819 crore.

The company declared its maiden dividend of 20 per cent of face value for the year. Further, the company has proposed sub-division of existing equity shares of Rs10 each into two equity shares of Rs5 each.

The average revenue per user (ARPU) for its mobile services declined 15 per cent from Rs324 a month in March 2008 to Rs305 in March 2009. Its ARPU is, however, higher than the industry average of Rs220 a month. Minutes of usage have increased from 89,058 million in March 2008 to 130,669 million by March 2009.

The company said it plans to invest $3 billion during 2009-10.