Airtel announces 115% growth in Q3 profits after 4 years of decline

Bharti Airtel, India's largest telecomm services provider, announced today that its net profit for the third quarter (ended December) rose for the first time in more than four years, though it was still lower than a Thomson Reuters forecast predicted.

Bharti Airtel, nearly a third owned by Southeast Asia's top phone carrier SingTel, said it was helped by lower competition and an increase in voice call prices, apart from its focus on internet and data usage.

Its consolidated net profit soared by as much as 115 per cent at Rs610 crore for the fiscal third quarter from Rs284 crores a year earlier. Net income before exceptional items was Rs832 crore, Bharti said in a statement.

The Q3 result, announced during trading hours, sent the company's shares up 2.46 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The results are as per International Financial Reporting Standards, according to the statement.
 
Apart from being India's top operator, Bharti Airtel is also a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa.

The company saw a growth in its net profit after losses in 15 straight quarters.

''Our focus on superior internet experience has resulted in increased data adoption and usage. Data is now a huge source of revenue growth,'' Bharti Airtel joint managing director and chief executive (India operations) Gopal Vittal said.

Consolidated mobile Internet revenue grew 105.2 per cent year-on-year to Rs1,736 crore, accounting for more than one-third of the overall incremental revenue, the company said.

The company's total revenue rose 13.3 per cent to Rs21,939 crore during the quarter compared with Rs19,362 crore in the same period last fiscal.

Airtel said its data customer base in India has increased by 31.2 per cent to 54.4 million and usage per customer has gone up by 54.4 per cent, a 97.0 per cent increase in total data traffic.

The average revenue per user (ARPU) increased by Rs9.70 to Rs195.

The company's net debt has been reduced to Rs57,643 crore at the end of December 2013.

International revenues, comprising Africa and South Asia, rose 18.5 per cent to Rs7,676.3 crore during the third quarter from Rs6,477.5 crore in the same period last fiscal.

However, net loss from international operations widened to Rs1,123.7 crore in the December quarter compared with Rs602.8 crore in the same period a year ago.

''The international operations continued to achieve steady revenue growth. Africa had another quarter of strong growth from 3G/Data and Airtel Money services across all its markets, and we expect this trend to sustain due to large investments in brand and network,'' Bharti Airtel managing director and chief executive (international operations) Manoj Kohli said.