Airtel Q2 net shoots up nearly three-fold to Rs 1,383 cr

Bharti Airtel, country's largest mobile operator, today reported nearly three-fold jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 1,383 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2014 on the back of higher mobile data revenue.

The company had reported a net profit of Rs 512 crore in the corresponding period of last fiscal, it said in a statement.

The company's total revenue rose 7.1%to Rs 22,845 crore for the reported quarter as compared to Rs 21,324 crore in the corresponding period.

"Consolidated mobile data revenues at Rs 2,540 crore grew by 66.7% year-on-year, contributing more than two- thirds of the incremental revenues," Airtel said in a statement.

Airtel said for India, mobile data revenue registered a growth of 73.8% y-o-y at Rs 1,805 crore, uplifted by increase in data customer base and higher usage per customer. Mobile data revenues now contribute to 14.5% of mobile India revenues.

"We continue to see strong momentum in mobile data which has grown by 74% in this quarter. Airtel's pioneering 4G roll-out in 15 cities is now witnessing stronger customer acceptance," Bharti Airtel MD and CEO (India & South Asia) Gopal Vittal said.

On the regulatory front, he said the recent TRAI recommendations on making more contiguous spectrum available in the upcoming auctions have the potential of transforming the industry.

Africa revenues grew by 6.4% in local currency terms, but the $appreciation depressed the reported growth to 1.9% Y-o-Y, Airtel said.

Data revenues for Africa stood at $115 million with growth of 56.8%and data revenues now contribute to 10.1% of overall Africa revenues.

"Our robust 3G networks have supported the doubling of data volumes Y-o-Y, and we have been gearing up for much more growth. Airtel money transaction values have also crossed $1 billion a month," Bharti Airtel MD and CEO (Africa) Christian de Faria said.

The net debt of the company increased to Rs 62,215.8 crore due to an addition of Rs 6,445 crore of deferred payment liabilities for the 2G spectrum.