Bharti Airtel Q2: Stable qtr in the offing; losses to contract, ARPU rise

Last week, Bharti Airtel's Africa operations, Airtel Africa, posted an 8.8 per cent YoY fall in net profit to $88 million in the quarter ended September

Bharti Airtel is set to announce its September quarter results of FY21 (Q2FY21) on Tuesday amid expectations that the telecom operator's losses should shrink and revenue rise on year-on-year (YoY) basis, helped by firm subscriber addition and ARPU rise in an otherwise seasonally weak quarter. Commentary on ARPU trajectory and non-wireless business will be key monitorables.

For the entire sector as well, ICICI Securities expects a stable quarter for telecom companies. The brokerage sees both subscriber and average revenue per user (ARPUs) remaining firm given return of migrants to cities, continued higher data usage and thereby pack upgrades and improved availability