Telecom major Bharti Airtel today posted an over 22 per cent fall in its net profit at Rs 1,117 crore for October-December, dragged down by higher finance costs and charges for network upgradation as also the restructuring activities in some countries.
The company had registered a net profit of Rs 1,436 crore for the corresponding quarter last fiscal, Airtel said in a statement.
The country's largest telecom player said its bottomline was hit by exceptional items that include a charge of Rs 115.2 crore towards operating costs on network refarming and upgradation programme, Rs 231.3 crore on restructuring activities in some countries and interest costs, among others.
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The company further said that net interest costs of Rs 1,360 crore for the quarter have risen from Rs 492 crore in the year-ago period.
The total revenue, however, rose 3.7 per cent to Rs 24,066 crore for the said period as compared with Rs 23,217 crore a year earlier.
Net finance costs at Rs 1,391 crore were higher by Rs 345.9 crore primarily on account of higher spectrum related interest cost in India.
Airtel's mobile data revenue for India registered a growth of 50.6 per cent at Rs 3,184 crore, led by increase in the data customer base by 29.9 per cent and traffic by 73.3 per cent.
The data revenue's contribution is 23.1 per cent to total mobile India revenues vis-a-vis 16.2 per cent in the corresponding quarter last year. However, the data realisation per MB decreased to 23.77 paisa for the reported period as compared to 27.36 paisa last year.
"Our focus on acquiring quality customers has resulted in healthy net additions of 8.1 million in mobile. Our strong roll out of 3G/4G sites has resulted in acceleration of data usage growth to 73.3 per cent along with data ARPU reaching Rs 200," Bharti Airtel MD and CEO (India & South Asia) Gopal Vittal said.
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The consolidated mobile data revenue increased by 44 per cent to Rs 4,135 crore as compared to Rs 2,872.4 crore in the corresponding quarter last year and the data segment now constitutes 17.2 per cent of the total revenue of the company.
The consolidated earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) at Rs 8,475 crore grew 8.3 per cent year-on-year with EBITDA margin expanding by 1.5 per cent to 35.2 per cent.
In India, the average revenue per user (ARPU) for data increased to Rs 200 while that of voice decreased to Rs 137.
The monthly churn also increased to 3.4 per cent for the reported quarter as compared to 2.7 per cent last year.
Apart from decrease in voice usage per customer, the voice realisation per minute also declined 10 per cent to 33.75 paisa compared to 37.67 paisa last year.
Vittal further said the company's revenue grew by 11.6 per cent in the third quarter on an underlying basis and its smaller businesses continue to perform strongly.
"We have launched 'Project Leap' to deliver a truly differentiated customer experience and reinforce our commitment to build a future ready network," Vittal said.
The net debt of the company rose to Rs 78,816 crore at the end of December as compared to Rs 70,777 crore as on September-end.
In Africa, the company's net loss for the quarter was USD 74 million as compared to USD 136 million in the corresponding quarter last year.
In constant current terms, Africa revenues grew by 3.1 per cent to USD 1,026 million as compared to USD 995 million in the corresponding quarter of last year.
Data average revenue per user (ARPU) in Africa in the quarter increased to USD 3.3 from USD 3.2 in the corresponding period last year and the data segment now contributes 14.3 per cent to overall Africa revenue.
"Data consumption and revenues have grown by 111.6 per cent and 40.8 per cent respectively Y-o-Y. Operational efficiencies have resultant in improvement in EBITDA margin for a second consecutive quarter," Bharti Airtel MD and CEO (Africa) Christian de Faria said.
As on December 31, Airtel had an aggregate customer base of 82.1 million in Africa whereas data customers during the quarter increased by 37 per cent to 15.4 million.
Capital expenditure in Africa during the quarter was USD 184 million and investments are mostly directed towards enhancing data capabilities.
