Bharti Airtel's Q1 net profit plunges 30.8 per cent

Telecom service provider Bharti Airtel's consolidated net profit in the first quarter of 2016-17 dropped 30.8 per cent, a company statement said here on Wednesday.

The company posted consolidated net profit of Rs 1,462 crore during the April-June quarter 2016-17 compared to Rs 2,113 crore during the corresponding quarter in 2015-16.

The consolidated total revenues of the company during the first quarter grew by 7.9 per cent. It has posted Rs 25,546 crore profit for the first quarter in 2016-17 compared to Rs 23,671 crore during the same period in 2015-16.

The India revenues for the first quarter was at Rs 19,155 crore, which is a growth by 10.3 per cent year-on-year.

"The year has begun well with revenue growth of 10.3 per cent year-on-year and continued revenue market share gains. In continuation of our Project Leap announcement, we have now transparently opened up our entire mobile network to our customers so as to partner them in striving to deliver a world class experience," said Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO, India & South Asia.

In India, mobile data revenues crossed Rs 3,500 crore and at Rs 3,525 crore grew by 35.1 per cent year-on-year, led by increase in the data customer base by 19.1 per cent and traffic by 54.9 per cent. In mobile broadband customers increased by 68.3 per cent to 36.6 million from 21.7 million in the corresponding quarter last year.

In India data average revenue per user (ARPU) has moved up by Rs 21 year-on-year to Rs 202 in first quarter 2016-17, led by 28.1 per cent increase in usage per customer. Mobile Data revenues now contribute to 23.7 per cent of mobile India revenues compared to 19.2 per cent in the corresponding quarter last year, the statement said.

Over the past 24 months, Bharti Airtel has undertaken tower assets sales in 11 countries (with 9 closed and settled and 2 to be closed shortly) and divested 2 country telecom operations (Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone) - for a sum total consideration of $3.25 billion.

"Airtel Africa registered organic revenue growth of 3.8 per cent year-on-year despite headwinds due to implementation of stringent know-your-customer norms in a few countries. With over 21 per cent of our customer now using data, volumes have more than doubled. Airtel Money continues to lead with transaction values growing over 62 per cent year-on-year," said Christian de Faria, Executive Chairman, Airtel Africa.

--IANS

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