Bharti Airtel Q4 net up 2.8% at Rs 1,290 cr

Company board approves share buyback of up to Rs 1,434 cr at Rs 400 per share; total revenue rose 10% to Rs 24,960 cr

Bharti Airtel, the country’s largest telecom service provider, has posted a 2.8 per cent increase in net income at Rs 1,290 crore for the quarter ended March, with high growth in mobile data revenue at Rs 4,434 crore, up 43.7 per cent on a yearly basis.

Consolidated  revenue for the quarter grew eight per cent to Rs 24,959 crore from a year before. In the African region, net loss came down to Rs 384 crore, against Rs 1,138 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago.

On a quarterly basis, revenue was up 3.7 per cent (Rs 24,065 crore for October-December), while income was up 15.5 per cent (Rs 1,116 crore earlier). For the full year of 2015-16, consolidated revenue rose five per cent to Rs 96,532 crore. Net income was up six per cent to Rs 5,484 crore.

The operating earning margin improved to 36.8 per cent at end-March, from 34.2 per cent in the corresponding quarter in FY15.

Bharti Airtel also announced a buy-back of up to Rs 1,434 crore at Rs 400 share. This translates to 35.85 million equity shares, representing 0.9 per cent of the total paid-up equity share capital, subject to regulatory and other approvals, the company told the BSE. A committee of directors will finalise other terms and appointment of intermediaries.

On Wednesday, Bharti Airtel shares rose 3.5 per cent and closed at Rs 373.15 on the BSE.

India revenues for the March quarter grew 11.7 per cent to Rs 18,328 crore from a year before, adjusted for the impact in reduction of termination rates. This was led by strong growth of 11.9 per cent in mobiles and 23.5 per cent in Digital TV. Mobile data revenue at Rs 3,357 crore grew 44.5 per cent in India, led by increase in the data customer base by 25.5 per cent and traffic by 69.4 per cent.

For the whole year, capital expenditure was Rs 20,591 crore, up 10 per cent compared to Rs 18,668 crore for 2014-15.

Average revenue per user (Arpu) for data services increased 12 per cent to Rs 196 in the quarter over a year, led by a 31 per cent increase in usage per customer. In the December quarter, the data Arpu was Rs 200.

Mobile data revenues are now 23.3 per cent of mobile India revenues, compared to 17.6 per cent in the corresponding quarter a year before.

The total number of megabytes (MBs) on the network increased by 69 per cent to 146,768 million. However, data realisation per MB came down by 15 per cent, to 22.87p at the end of March. For the December quarter, the total number of MBs was 133,946 million and realisation was 23.77p.

On a yearly basis, voice Arpu continued to be under pressure. It fell nine per cent to Rs 138 and voice realisation per minute came down by eight per cent to 33.25p at the end of March. For the December quarter, the voice Arpu was Rs 137 and realisation was 33.75p.

Consolidated net debt, excluding deferred payment liabilities to the telecom department and finance lease obligations, increased to $7,508 million from $7,350 mn the previous quarter.

The board of directors has proposed a final dividend of Rs 1.36 a share at a face value of Rs 5 each for the financial year, subject to shareholder approval.

Gopal Vittal, managing director, India & South Asia, said: “Our focus on network and customers has resulted in a strong year of 12.4 per cent year-on-year (yoy) growth. Solid execution has resulted in an acceleration of revenue market share, even as our non-mobile businesses continue to grow smartly and now contribute materially to the overall Airtel growth story. With the proposed spectrum acquisitions from Videocon and Aircel, we will be the only pan-India 2G/3G/4G operator and best placed in the industry to strengthen our leadership position”.

In constant currency terms, Africa revenues adjusted for the impact of divestment of tower assets grew by 5.9 per cent yoy, highest in six quarters. Data revenues at $161 mn grew 43 per cent, led by increase in data customer base by 28.5 per cent and traffic by 110 per cent. Data Arpu increased to $3.5 from $3.2 in the corresponding quarter last year. Data revenues now contribute to 15.7 per cent of overall Africa revenue, compared to 11.5 per cent in the corresponding quarter last year.

Christian de Faria, MD for Africa, said: “The continued focus on driving cost efficiencies has resulted in Ebitda (operating earnings) margin improvement for a third consecutive quarter”.