Airtel recovers from losses for six consecutive quarters, net profit of 854 crore in October-December
Private sector telecom company Bharti Airtel made a consolidated net profit of Rs 854 crore in the third quarter of the current fiscal year ended December 2020. This resulted in a loss of Rs 1,035 crore in the same quarter of the previous fiscal. The company has returned to profitability due to improvement in revenue and an increase in number of customers.
In October-December, the company reported its highest-ever integrated quarterly revenue of Rs 26,518 crore. This figure is 24.2 percent higher than the same period last year. The company said that its domestic business income grew by 25.1 percent to Rs 19,007 crore during the quarter. This was Rs 15,194 crore in the same quarter of the previous financial year.
Highest loss in the quarter ended September 2019
The company incurred losses in the second quarter of 2019-20 due to a provision of Rs 28,450 crore for adjusted gross revenue (AGR) following the Supreme Court order. The company had the highest net loss of Rs 23,045 crore for the quarter ended September 2019. Airtel Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) India and South Asia Gopal Vittal said, “The company has suffered a lot of ups and downs throughout the year. Despite this, our performance during the quarter has been quite good. All parts of our portfolio have done well.
Company in first place in case of adding new connections
The company’s mobile revenue grew 32.4 percent during the quarter, due to an increase in receipts and subscribers. After a gap of about four years, the company has again reached first place in terms of adding new connections. The company’s average earnings per customer (ARPU) rose to Rs 166 in the quarter under review, from Rs 135 in the same quarter last fiscal. Vittal said that the main thing for the October-December quarter was that we added 13 million new 4G subscribers to our wireless business. Compared to the same period last year, our income grew by about 25 percent.
The country’s first telecom company in this case
He said, ‘We have become the first telecom company in the country to perform live 5G service on a commercial network in Hyderabad city.’ Bharti Airtel has increased the minimum recharge price to Rs 45 for its prepaid customers. It was Rs 23 in December 2019. The company’s African business revenue grew 22 percent to Rs 7,644.2 crore during the quarter, from Rs 6,269.2 crore in the year-ago quarter. On an annual basis, the company’s subscriber base grew by 9.4 percent to 45.79 crore from 41.88 crore.
