Bharti Airtel profit slumps, but beats estimates

(Reuters) - Bharti Airtel Ltd, India's top telecom operator, reported an almost 75 percent drop in quarterly profit as a price war sparked by an upstart carrier weighed on earnings.

Profit on a consolidated basis, which includes the company's Africa operations and its Indian satellite TV business among others, fell to 3.67 billion rupees ($57.01 million) in the three months to June 30, while revenue fell 14 percent to 219.58 billion rupees, Bharti Airtel said in a statement on Tuesday. (http://bit.ly/2utodoR)

Analysts had expected a consolidated profit of 3.35 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Reliance Jio, backed by India's richest man Mukesh Ambani, has shaken India's telecoms industry since it was launched a year ago by offering months of free services and sharply discounted plans, battering the fortunes of established rivals such as Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular.

($1 = 64.3800 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Aby Jose Koilparambil in Bengaluru; editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Jason Neely)