Bharti Airtel Q2 profit drops 37% to ₹1,341 cr

Net profit of telecom operator Bharti Airtel fell 37.5% year-on-year to ₹1,341 crore for the quarter ended September compared with ₹2,145 crore in the year-ago period.

Revenue from operations rose 7.3% year-on-year to ₹37,044 crore, backed by strong and consistent performance in India operations. The company's India business posted quarterly revenues of ₹26,995 crore, up 10.9%.

Mobile average revenue per user (ARPU) increased to ₹203 in the second quarter as against ₹190 in the corresponding quarter last year.

ARPU rose on the back of sustained focus on acquiring high-value customers and improved realisations, Bharti Airtel says in its earnings release.

Mobile services revenues in India jumped 11%, led by strong 4G/5G customer additions and an increase in ARPU, it says.

Consolidated EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) surged 11% year-on-year to ₹19,665 crore in the September quarter. This led to an improvement in EBITDA margin from 51.3% in Q2 FY23 to 53.1% in Q2 FY24 on the back of cost optimisation. Consolidated EBIT increased by 13.3% to ₹9,929 crore. The consolidated net income before exceptional items for the quarter stands at ₹2,960 crore.

Revenue growth was impacted by the devaluation of the Nigeria Naira and other currencies during the period, the telco says in its earnings report.

"This has been yet another quarter of solid revenue growth and improved margins. Our India revenue continues to gain momentum and grew sequentially by 2.4%. Our consolidated revenue however was impacted by the devaluation of the Nigerian Naira," says Gopal Vittal, managing director, Bharti Airtel.

"Consolidated EBITDA margins expanded to 53.1% supported by a strong war on waste program. We added 7.7 million 4G/5G net adds and exited the quarter with an industry-leading ARPU of 203. Our Postpaid and Homes businesses continued their strong growth trajectory as we added the highest ever net adds in both these segments in any single quarter. Our performance is underpinned by a simple and consistent strategy of focusing on quality customers and delivering the best experience to them in a seamless digital way," says Vittal.

The company strengthened its leadership position in the postpaid segment with the highest ever net adds of 1 million in Q2, thereby reaching a customer base of 43.9 million. "We continue to garner strong market share of 4G/5G customers and added 27.2 Mn 4G/5G data customers to our network over last year, an increase of 12.9% YoY," the telco says.

Homes business delivered a revenue growth of 23.3% as a result of the company's strategy to harness the growing demand of high-speed and reliable broadband in India. Airtel says its focus on digitisation and acquiring high vahigh-valueers led to an all-time high 471,000 customer additions in the quarter to reach a total base of 6.9 million.

Digital TV continues to consolidate its strong market position with 15.7 million customer base at the end of quarterthe . Airtel says its focus on market specific strategy coupled with simplified pricing and convergence portfolio ensured that the business continues to hold its market share.

Airtel says it continues to optimise the capital structure by judiciously allocating capital across its businesses to strengthen the balance sheet.