Bharti Airtel Q3 results: Consolidated net profit rises 54% to Rs 2,442 cr

ARPU rises to Rs 208 from Rs 203 in Q2

Bharti Airtel on Monday posted a 54 per cent jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 2,442.2 crore during the October-December quarter of 2023. It had registered a profit of Rs 1,588.2 crore in the year-ago period, the company said on Monday.

Driven by strong 4G and 5G customer additions, the telecom service provider’s consolidated revenue for Q3 was Rs 37,899 crore, a 5.85 per cent increase on a year-on-year (Y-o-Y) basis.

But vis-à-vis Q2FY24, net sales were up by 2.3 per cent. Other income during the quarter under review stood at Rs 439.8 crore.

The company’s average revenue per user (ARPU), a key performance metric for telecom firms, rose 7.7 per cent Y-o-Y to Rs 208, up marginally from Rs 203 in the preceding quarter.

Airtel's ARPU is the highest among India’s top telecom players, beating Jio's Rs 181.7 and Vodafone Idea's Rs 145 (as last reported by both companies).

The company’s India revenue for Q3FY24 was Rs 27,811 crore, up by 11.4 per cent Y-o-Y. The growth rate, however, was less than the 13 per cent increase seen in the preceding quarter.

Mobile services in India, which account for a significant portion of the revenue, grew at 11.8 per cent Y-o-Y in Q3 due to strong additions of 4G/5G customers. This was slightly faster than the 10.9 per cent growth seen in Q2. The telco's consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) during the quarter was Rs 20,044 crore. Ebitda margin was 53.9 per cent, up 94 basis points (bps) Y-o-Y.

The India business posted an Ebitda of Rs 15,000 crore, with a margin of 53.9 per cent, up 119 bps.

“The quarter witnessed a strong growth trajectory for the postpaid and home businesses, while our direct-to-home (DTH) business saw 388,000 net adds — the highest in the last 12 quarters. We remain on course with our strategy of premiumisation that helped us add 7.4 million 4G/5G customers and exit the quarter with an industry leading ARPU of Rs 208,” said Gopal Vittal, managing director of Bharti Airtel 

Even at this ARPU, the return on capital employed (RoCE) however, continues to be low at 9.4 per cent, Vittal added.

The telco added 0.9 million subscribers in Q3, slightly down from 1 million in Q2.

Airtel rolled out 12,300 new towers over the past quarter to further strengthen network coverage. The company has rolled out 45,000 towers in the first nine months of FY24.

On a consolidated basis, 4G/5G data customers were up by 28.2 million Y-o-Y, now making up 71 per cent of the overall mobile customer base.

Airtel's homes business maintained its rapid growth trajectory and delivered a revenue growth of 23 per cent Y-o-Y.

Mobile data consumption increased by 21.1 per cent Y-o-Y with consumption per customer rising to 22 GB per month in India.