Bharti Airtel's profits jump, boosted by rise in subscribers

REUTERS - Bharti Airtel has posted a better than expected quarterly profit, as India's biggest telecoms network operator by users and revenue added more subscribers, boosting data and voice call traffic.

The company, which operates in 20 countries across Asia and Africa, reported on Wednesday that it made a net profit of 14.37 billion rupees ($232 million) in the final three months of 2014, its financial third quarter, more than double the 6.12 billion rupees it made in the same period of 2013.

Analysts on average were expecting Bharti to post a profit of 13.81 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Top Indian mobile phone operators have been able in the past two years to increase voice call prices, their main revenue generator, as smaller rivals have gone out of business, making it easier for them to get new customers.

Airtel added 1.76 million customers in December alone, second only to Idea, which added 2.58 million.

Furthermore, a growing use of smartphones has boosted data traffic.

Last week rival Idea Cellular Ltd posted a 64 percent rise in quarterly profit.

On Wednesday Bharti Airtel said third-quarter net sales came in at 232.17 billion rupees, up from the 219.39 billion rupees in the same period of 2013.

Of that total, mobile data revenues were up 62 percent at 28.72 billion rupees, with the rise in India 74.3 percent.

Shares in Bharti Airtel closed at 368.95 rupees Wednesday on the Mumbai market.

($1 = 61.8200 rupees)

(Reporting by Nivedita Bhattacharjee in Mumbai; Editing by Greg Mahlich)