Bharti Airtel reports Q3 loss at Rs 1,035 crore despite rising revenue

Bharti Airtel on Tuesday reported a loss of Rs 1,035 crore in the quarter ended December as the telecom major tackles a bruising pricing battle, mounting debt and regulatory overhang.

The consolidated revenue from operations grew by 8.5 per cent year-on-year to Rs 21,947 crore in Q3 FY20 compared to Rs 20,231 crore in the same period of previous fiscal.

"While tariff revision undertaken in December 2019 is a welcome step towards repairing the financial health of the industry, we believe tariffs must go up further for enabling the industry to invest in emerging technologies," said Chief Executive Officer Gopal Vittal.

After the Supreme Court judgement on October 24 last year, the group had recorded as a liability or provision an aggregate of Rs 34,260 crore as on September 30, of which Rs 28,450 crore was recorded in the previous quarter as an exceptional item.

The court judgement was in relation to a long outstanding industry-wide case upholding the view considered by Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in respect of the definition of adjusted gross revenue (AGR).

The apex court in a supplementary order directed the affected parties to pay amounts due to DoT within a period of three months, which ended on January 23, 2020.

These judgements have significant financial implications for the group. A review petition filed by Bharti Airtel and other telecom operators was rejected last month. Telecom operators have now filed an application for modification of the supplementary order before the Supreme Court which is pending disposal.

Bharti Airtel said it has raised Rs 21,502 crore of funding through a combination of fresh equity issuance via qualified institutional placement and issue of convertible bonds. The company intends to use these proceeds to augment its long term resources and strengthen its balance sheet.