As the ARPU of Bharti Airtel hits Rs 233 in Q2 FY25, approaching the company's short-term ARPU goal of Rs 250, Bharti Airtel's Managing Director and CEO Gopal Vittal highlighted that the industry needs further tariff repairs for sustained investments. In the earnings statement on Monday, Vittal said that the company's balance sheet remains solid, supported by cash generation and continued deleveraging. During the July-September quarter, Bharti Airtel reported that it prepaid another tranche of Rs 8,465 crore of high-cost spectrum dues.
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Need for Further Tariff Revisions
"At the same time, we believe that the industry needs further tariff repairs for sustained investments, given that ROCE (Returns on Capital Employed) for India is still only 11 percent," Vittal said.
The telecom operator reported that its consolidated revenues for the July-September quarter reached Rs 41,473 crore, an increase of 12 percent year-on-year and 7.7 percent quarter-on-quarter. Mobile Services India revenues grew by 18.5 percent year-on-year, led by tariff increases coupled with a relentless focus on premiumizing the portfolio with quality customers.
Bharti Airtel asserted that it continues to deliver industry-leading Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) growth. The ARPU for the quarter stood at Rs 233, compared to Rs 203 in Q2 FY24.
The company reported that the increase in revenues was driven by tariff repairs, strong smartphone data customer additions, and improvements in the underlying mix.
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Network Enhancements
Airtel announced the rollout of approximately 5,000 additional towers and 15,200 mobile broadband stations in the quarter to enhance connectivity. Furthermore, Bharti Airtel said it turbocharged its networks with the deployment of additional spectrum acquired in key circles in June 2024. Airtel has added around 34,000 towers year-on-year.
Expansion in Postpaid and FWA Customer Base
Airtel stated it has further strengthened its position in the postpaid segment by adding 0.8 million customers in Q2 FY25, bringing its customer base to 24.7 million.
During the quarter, Airtel said it accelerated its FWA (Fixed Wireless Access) expansion, which led to a strong uptick in customer additions of 583,000, bringing the total customer base to 8.6 million. Digital TV posted revenue of Rs 759 crore with a customer base of 15.8 million.
Operational Indicators
Airtel reported a customer base of around 407 million for the quarter ending September 30, 2024. Concerning operational indicators, smartphone data customers increased by 26.2 million year-on-year and 4.2 million quarter-on-quarter, making up 75 percent of the overall mobile customer base. Mobile data consumption rose by 22.6 percent year-on-year, with consumption per customer at 23.9 GB per month.
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Commenting on the results, Gopal Vittal said, "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 Mn 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."
"Airtel also continues to invest in a future-ready digital network to deliver brilliant customer experience - we launched India's first AI-powered, network-based spam detection solution to solve the endemic problem of spam calls and messages. Our 5G network has once again received validation from Open signal - Airtel was awarded all the five awards on 5G network experience," Vittal added.
