Bharti net up 79% to Rs 934cr

4.1 mn subscribers added; market cap touches Rs 1 lakh cr.

A 79 per cent rise in net profit to Rs 934 crore for the quarter ended September 2006 today catapulted Bharti Airtel Ltd, India's most valuable telecommunications company, into the elite group of companies with a market capitalisation of over Rs 100,000 crore.

The others in this group are Reliance Industries Ltd, ONGC, Infosys, NTPC and TCS.

The company's stock rose 5 per cent to Rs 530 in afternoon trade on its better than expected results, piercing the Rs 100,000 crore mark in market capitalisation before ending the day at Rs 527.30 on the Bombay Stock Exchange and a valuation of Rs 99,450 crore.

By all indications, the party will continue in the quarters to come. "I believe the momentum in customer addition should continue. I have no reason to believe growth in subscribers and revenue will fall," Akhil Gupta, joint managing director, Bharti Airtel, said.

The company reported a 61 per cent rise in revenue to Rs 4,357 crore for the quarter on the back of a record 4.1 million new customers, while its earnings before interest, depreciation, tax and amortisation (EBIDTA) rose 67 per cent to Rs 1,702 crore.

As a result, Bharti Airtel's EBIDTA margins rose to 39.1 per cent from 37.7 per cent in the same quarter a year ago.

This rise in margins came in spite of a Rs 3 fall in average revenue from a customer to Rs 438 during the quarter from the same quarter last year, though the average customer talk-time rose by 10 minutes to 451 minutes.

"This clearly shows that the company's operational efficiencies improved during the quarter," said an industry watcher.

"These numbers are too good. But the best is yet to come," Deven Choksey, chairman of KR Choksey Shares and Securities, told Reuters.

India, the world's most competitive mobile telephony market, is in the midst of an unprecedented wireless services boom as it adds upwards of 6 million mobile customers each month. In fact, in September, India overtook China in the number of customers added per month.

"This growth is not dependent on the top 20, 30 or 40 cities but on thousands of small cities. That is what makes it sustainable," Gupta said.