Bharti Airtel Q1 Profit Surges 2.5x to Rs 4,160 Cr on ARPU Growth

New Delhi, Aug 5 (PTI) Telecom operator Bharti Airtel reported more than 2.5 times jump in its consolidated profit to Rs 4,160 crore in the April-June quarter of 2024-25 compared to the year-ago period driven by an improvement in average revenue per user and an exceptional gain of Rs 735 crore.

The company had posted a profit of Rs 1,612.5 crore in the same period a year ago.

The consolidated revenue from operations of Bharti Airtel increased by 2.8 per cent to Rs 38,506.4 crore during the reported quarter from Rs 37,440 crore in the June quarter of the last year.

The consolidated capital expenditure of Bharti Airtel during the June quarter dropped by 23.44 per cent to Rs 8,007 crore from Rs 10,459 crore in the year-ago period. At the same time, India capital expenditure of Airtel declined by 27 per cent to Rs 6,781.2 crore from Rs 9,327 crore on YoY basis.

The reduction in capex coupled with improvement in average revenue per user (ARPU), a key matrix to determine telecom operators' growth along with customer growth, fuelled Airtel's performance in the June quarter.

"During the quarter ended June 30, 2024, the net exceptional gain of Rs 7,350 million comprises of gain of Rs 13,991 million on account of favourable judgement by the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India regarding the waiver of interest on tax

treatment of adjusted revenue linked variable license fee payable to DOT, gain of Rs 2,746 million pertaining to the
divestment of Airtel Lanka," Airtel said.

"First quarter of FY '25 was yet another steady quarter with India revenue growing at 1.9 per cent sequentially and sustained EBITDA margins expansion to 53.7 per cent. Our stringent focus on driving cost efficiencies is reflected in strong operating leverage. Africa continues to deliver strong underlying constant currency revenue growth," Bharti Airtel, Managing Director, Gopal Vittal said in a statement.

Vittal said that Airtel accelerated pace on FWA (fixed wireless access) services expansion across key towns.

"Our Wifi services (FTTH and FWA) are now available in over 1300 cities. Our digital portfolio is shaping up well and it is geared for accelerated growth to add strength to our already diversified portfolio," Vittal said.

Airtel's customer base grew by 7.3 per cent to 56.75 crores from 52.89 crores on YoY while in India it grew by about 7 per cent to 40.92 crores from 38.28 crores on a yearly basis.

Bharti Airtel's India revenue increased by 10.1 per cent to Rs 29,046 crore on a Y-o-Y basis.

The company's 4G and 5G customer base increased by about 13 per cent on a Y-o-Y basis to 25.94 crore from 22.97 crore in the June quarter of FY24. Airtel recorded a 12.4 per cent increase in data usage per customer per month to 23.7 GB on YoY basis.

Mobile average revenue per user (ARPU) of Bharti Airtel in India increased by 5.4 per cent to Rs 211 during the reported quarter compared to Rs 200 in the same period a year ago.

Airtel claims to have a leadership position in the postpaid segment with net adds of 8 lakh in the June quarter of 2024.

"Our market share in the smartphone segment saw sustained improvement with an addition of 2.97 crore, an increase of 12.9 per cent YoY," the statement said.

Airtel said that it rolled out an additional 6,300 towers and about 15,500 mobile broadband stations in the quarter to provide seamless connectivity and superior network experience.

The company's net debt increased by 14 per cent on YoY basis to Rs 31,098.3 crore in June 2024 from Rs 27,245.5 crore in the year-ago period.

Airtel's headcount in India increased by 2,328 to 19,801 employees.