Bharti Airtel Q2 net down 65% at Rs119 cr; revenue falls 6.2% to Rs20,422.5 cr
26 Oct 2018
Telecom major Bharti Airtel has reported a net profit of Rs118.8 crore in the fiscal second quarter ended 30 September 2018, registering a 65.4 per cent decline from the Rs343 crore net profit of the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
Revenue for the quarter was 6.2 per cent lower at Rs20,422.5 crore compared to the Rs21,776.9 crore in the year-ago quarter, on the back of falling revenue per user.
While its domestic average revenue per user (ARPU) fell 28.8 per cent to Rs101 during the quarter, ARPU from African operations dropped to $3 from $3.2 last year.
“Led by our focus on quality customers through simplified pricing and content partnerships, ARPU decline has moderated in this quarter. We remain focused on driving quality base growth with value adding propositions for our customers," said Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO, India & South Asia, Bharti Airtel.
The earnings report comes a day after the company announced that six global investors, including Warburg Pincus, Temasek, Singtel and SoftBank Group International, had agreed to invest $1.25 billion in Airtel Africa through a primary equity issuance.
The investment would be used to reduce Airtel Africa's existing debt of approximately $5 billion and for growth of its African operations, the company had said on Wednesday.
Net revenue from its Africa business grew 13.2 per cent year-on-year in the quarter ended 30 September 2018, the company said.
Bharti Airtel, till recently the country’s top telecom company, has been relegated to second position after the second and third larges telcos – Vodafone India and Idea Cellular merged their operatios to form India’s largest telecom operator.