BackAirtel Q1 profit below estimates; 5.6 million new 4G users sign up
The company reported a flat net profit of ₹1,612.5 crore in the first quarter of fiscal 2024 from ₹1,607 crore in the year ago.
PremiumMUMBAI : Bharti Airtel Ltd, India’s second largest telecom operator, reported a mixed set of first quarter numb-ers on Thursday, with revenue beating estimates even as profit came below expectations.
The company reported a flat net profit of ₹1,612.5 crore in the first quarter of fiscal 2024 from ₹1,607 crore in the year ago. However, the company’s revenue from operations grew 14% to ₹37,440 crore compared to ₹32,804.6 crore in Q1 FY23. Bharti Airtel’s net profit missed Bloomberg analysts estimate of ₹2,861 crore, but revenue beat the estimate of ₹36,869 crore. There was a one-time loss of ₹3,416.3 crore in Q1FY24. “We have delivered yet ano-ther quarter of strong and competitive growth across all our businesses. Our consolidated revenue grew sequentially 4.0%, and Ebitda margin exp-anded to 52.7%, underscoring simplicity and execution of our strategy," said Gopal Vittal MD.
The company’s Ebitda grew 18.9% to ₹19,746 crore, while Ebitda margins expanded 212 basis points to 52.7%. “Our focus on winning quality customers and driving premiumization has helped add 5.6 mn new 4G customers and highest ever postpaid customers in any one quarter. We exit the quarter with an industry leading ARPU of ₹200. Homes, Enterprise and our digital businesses continue to exhibit strong growth, reflecting resilience and strength," he said.
The average revenue per user (ARPU) per month increased 9.28% YoY to ₹200 in Q1 FY2024 from ₹183 in Q1 FY2023 on the back of sustained focus on acquiring quality customers and improved realizations on account of premiumization.
Bharti Airtel’s mobile revenues grew by 12.4% YoY on account of improved realization as well as strong 4G customer additions during the year.
Bharti Airtel’s business revenues up by 15.8% YoY, backed by robust demand for data and connectivity related solutions accompanied with the emerging competencies
The company strengthened its leadership position in the postpaid segment with the highest ever net addition of 0.8 million in the June quarter, reaching a customer base of 40.4 million.
“We continue to garner strong share of 4G customers in the market and added 24.5 Mn 4G data customers to our network over last year, an increase of 11.9% YoY. We continue to deliver industry leading ARPU along with growing average data usage per data customer at 21.1 GBs/month," the press release said.
The homes business segment delivered a revenue growth of 25.4% YoY on harnessing the growing demand of high-speed, reliable broadband in India. Airtel saw 413,000 customer additions during the June quarter to reach a total base of 6.5 million.
Digital TV saw a customer base of 15.9 million customer base at the end of the quarter. ‘’The company’s focus on market specific strategy coupled with simplified pricing and convergence portfolio ensured that the business continues to hold its market share,’’ the company said its exchange filing.
Shares of Bharti Airtel ended at marginally lower at ₹871.70 apiece on the NSE.
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