Bharti Airtel's consolidated net up 2.8 percent in Q4

Bharti Airtel's net profit rose by 2.8 percent in the fourth quarter (January-March) of 2015-16, a company statement said on Wednesday.

The consolidated net profit of the company increased to Rs.1,290 crore in the fourth quarter of 2015-16 compared to Rs.1,255 crore posted during the corresponding period in 2014-15.

The total revenue of the company for the quarter stood at Rs.24,960 crore, which is a growth of 8.4 percent.

Till March 31, 2016, the company had 251.2 million mobile customers in India as compared to 226 million the previous year, an increase of 11.2 percent.

"The company continues to accelerate mobile data growth with 58.2 million data customers (23.2 percent of total customers) as on March 31, 2016, representing a growth of 25.5 percent as compared to 46.4 million (20.5 percent of total customers) at the end of previous year," the quarterly report said.

"The total megabytes on the network for the full year (2015-16) has increased by 73.3 percent to 497.7 billion megabytes as compared to 287.2 billion megabytes in the previous year. Mobile sata usage per customer for the full year witnessed an increase of 36.3 percent to 801 megabytes per month as compared to 587 megabytes in the previous year."

Data average revenue per unit increased by 21.4 percent to Rs.194 during the year from Rs.160 in the previous year.

"Our focus on network and customers has resulted in a strong year of 12.4 percent year-on-year 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," said Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO, India & South Asia.

"Mobile data growth (year-on-year) continues to lead, with traffic and revenues up 69.4 percent and 44.5 percent respectively. Voice volumes have also increased 10.8 percent - the fastest growth in the last 18 quarters. 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," he added.

Airtel Africa witnessed accelerated revenue growth of 5.9 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter on an underlying basis, which is the highest growth in last six quarters.

"Despite the quarter seasonality in the continent, data consumption and revenues have are up 110.1 percent and 43 percent year-on-year respectively," said Christian de Faria, MD and CEO of the African operations.

Airtel is present in 17 African countries.

--IANS

ag/rn/vt