Hope govt will lower proposed 5G auction base price, says Airtel

Gopal Vittal, CEO of Bharti Airtel said the mobile growth of 4 per cent was largely driven by ARPU growth

India’s third largest telecom service provider, Bharti Airtel, hopes that the Union government would bring down the proposed base price for 5G auctions for the company to consider participating in the airwave sale.

In an investor conference call, Gopal Vittal, chief executive officer of Bharti Airtel, said since 5G requires large quantity of spectrum and investments in the range of Rs 50,000-55,000 crore and “clearly these are prices we can’t afford and they are exorbitant, we hope the government will bring down pricing and then we would look seriously at 5G.”

He added that the company was focused on improving business without change in price at a time when the market place is “brutal” in terms of pricing structure.

“Competitive intensity is stable but the market place is still brutal in terms of pricing structure. Industry repair has to happen, but we are 

currently focused on improving business without change in pricing,” said Vittal.

He said the mobile growth of 4 per cent was largely driven by average revenue per user (ARPU) growth. The Rs 99 pack was moved to Rs 119 and the Rs 149 pack went up to Rs 169 and that propelled the company’s ARPU.

The company’s Chief Financial Officer, Badal Bagri, said Airtel was making a dynamic shift to ecosystem of digital services with an aim to win customers across verticals.

During the year, mobile broadband towers increased by 28,000 and base station increased by 1,20,000, the company said.

Bharti Airtel reported a 19 per cent rise in its average revenue per user in the quarter ended March 31 as it removed the non-paying users from its network. The company’s ARPU in the January-March quarter was Rs 123, 18.6 % higher than the same period last year, it said in a statement.

Airtel posted a 29 per cent jump in net profit to Rs 107 crore for the quarter ended March 2019 even as the Street had anticipated a loss in the range of Rs 700 crore. The company said the jump was mainly due to gains from exceptional items.

The company reported revenues of Rs 20,602.2 crore, up 6.2 per cent from the same quarter last financial year. The earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation were better as Airtel eliminated its low-value customers during the quarter.

For FY19, Airtel’s net profit tanked 62.7 per cent to Rs 409.5 crore compared to Rs 1,099 crore in the previous financial year. During the period, the revenue of the company stood at Rs 80,780.2 crore, down 2.2 per cent, compared to Rs 82,638.8 crore.