NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel on Monday reported a 168% rise in its consolidated net profit to Rs 3,593 crore for the quarter ending September 2024, up from Rs 1,341 crore in the year-ago period.
The company also improved its average revenue per user (ARPU) by 15% to Rs 233 in Q2FY25, compared to Rs 203 in Q2FY24. Its consolidated revenues for the quarter were Rs 41,473 crore, growing by 12.0% year-on-year and 7.7% quarter-on-quarter, driven by strong momentum in India and growth in constant currency in Africa.
Airtel’s mobile revenue grew 18.5% YoY, led by tariff hike by the company in July 2024. The telco’s consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) during the quarter were `22,021 crore, while the EBITDA margin was 53.1%. However, The company’s customer base in India decreased by 2 million in the latest quarter, ending at 407 million as of September-end.
“The flow thru of tariff repair is in-line with our expectation on ARPU increase and SIM consolidation. We reported industry leading ARPU of Rs 233. Our focus on winning quality customers and driving premiumisation has helped us add 4.2 million smartphone customers. We continue to expand our Wifi coverage with FWA offerings to over 2,000 cities. We continue to invest in our digital businesses to diversify portfolio strength and drive long term growth,” said Gopal Vittal, managing director of Bharti Airtel.
Airtel’s India revenues for the quarter were Rs 31,561 crore, up by 16.9% YoY. The company also added a net of 0.8 million postpaid subscribers in the quarter, reaching a customer base of 24.7 million. The telco rolled out nearly 5,000 towers and 15,200 mobile broadband stations during the quarter to enhance connectivity and provide a superior network experience.
Additionally, Airtel launched India’s first network-based, AI-powered spam detection solution to combat the country’s spam issues. The company added 583,000 FWA customers. Airtel prepaid `8,465 crore in September 2024 for deferred liabilities pertaining to spectrum acquired in 2016, which were at an interest rate of 9.3%.