NEW DELHI: Telecom operator Bharti Airtel witnessed a 164% rise in its net profit to Rs 2,008 crore for the fourth quarter ended 31 March 2022, helped by tariff hike and improved ARPU. The company garnered Rs.759 crore last year in the same period.
The revenue of the telco's India business grew by 22.7% year-on-year to Rs 22500 crore while its revenue from mobile services is up 25.1% YoY, led by an increase in ARPU largely.
Airtel's consolidated EBITDA, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization came at Rs 15998 crore with the EBITDA margin at 50.8%, an improvement of 192 bps YoY.
It said its India business posted an EBITDA of Rs 11,436 crore with the EBITDA margin at 50.8%; up 191 bps Year-on-Year.
The company's ARPU for the quarter came in at Rs 178 as compared to Rs 145 in Q4'21.
It has added 21.5 million 4G customers to its network over last year, an increase of 12% YoY.
"Our consolidated revenues for the quarter grew by 5.5% and EBITDA margins expanded to 50.8%, underscoring our focus on all-round delivery. The mobile business revenues were up 9.5% as we saw the full flow-through of the tariff increase. Airtel continues to have the highest ARPU at Rs 178… We continue to remain optimistic about the opportunities in the coming years," said Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO of Airtel, India and South Asia.
Airtel's net debt-EBITDA ratio (annualized) and including the impact of leases as on March 31, 2022 is at 2.51 times as compared to 2.95 times as on March 31, 2021. The company said it had paid an additional Rs 8,815 crore towards part prepayment of deferred liabilities for spectrum acquired in 2015.