NEW DELHI: Telecom major Bharti Airtel posted a 91% year-on-year growth in its consolidated net profit at R1,588.2 crore for the third quarter that ended 31 December 2022. The company’s net profit was R830 crore last year in the same quarter.
However, sequentially, the telecom major saw a drop of 26% in its net profit. The company’s average revenue per user (ARPU) per month also witnessed a hike of 18% to R193 during the quarter, as against R163 in the last quarter.
The total consolidated revenues of India’s second-largest telco grew by 19.9% YoY to R35,804 crore for the quarter, from R29,867 crore. Its EBITDA or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation came in at R18,601 crore, with the operating margin improving 205 basis points on-year to 52%.
“We have delivered another quarter of consistent and competitive growth across all our businesses. Revenue grew sequentially by 3.7%, while Ebitda's margin expanded to 52%. Our strategy of winning quality customers has helped us add 6.4 million 4G customers and exit the quarter with an industry-leading ARPU of R193,” said the MD of Airtel Gopal Vittal.
He further said our overall performance is testimony to the breadth and diversity of our portfolio that spans across both geographies as well as businesses. “Our 5G rollout is on track to cover all towns and key rural areas by March 2024,” said Vittal. Currently, the company has a 369 million customer base till December 2022.
Vi board nods R16,133 cr allotment of shares to govt
Telecom operator Vodafone Idea on Tuesday said its board has approved the allotment of equity shares worth Rs 16,133 crore to the government. Following this, the government will have a 33.44% stake in the company. Vodafone’s stake in Vodafone Idea now has fallen from 47.61% to 31.8% and Aditya Birla Group’s holding will drop from 27.38% to 18.3%.
“The Board of Directors of the Company has, at its meeting held today approved the allotment of 16, 133, 184,899 equity shares of the face value of Rs 10 each at an issue price of Rs 10 per equity share aggregating to R161,331,848,990 to the Department of Investment and Public Asset- Management,” said the company in an exchange filing.
In January 2022, the debt-laden telco opted to convert the interest dues of R16,130 crore related to deferred AGR and SUC payments into equity.