Bharti Airtel ARPU Reaches Rs 178 on Account of Tariff Hikes

Bharti Airtel, the second-largest telecom operator, has just announced its financial results for Q4 FY22. The telco has reported an average revenue per user (ARPU) figure of Rs 178 during the quarter. Compared to the previous quarter’s Rs 163, the jump to Rs 178 is a positive sign for the telco’s short-term goal of reaching the Rs 200 ARPU level. In the coming quarters, it is very possible for Airtel to reach very close to the ARPU level of Rs 200.

There was a 25.1% YoY jump in India’s mobile services revenues which was led by the ARPU growth. Airtel has benefitted from the tariff hikes as its consolidated net income has grown to Rs 2008 crore from Rs 759 crore a year back.

Airtel 4G Customers Up by 21.5 Million YoY

Despite the tariff hikes, Airtel managed to add new 4G subscribers during FY22. The telco said that its 4G users went up by 21.5 million YoY and 5.2 million QoQ. It is worth noting that Airtel’s overall 4G subscriber count crossed 200 million figure, which is way more than Vodafone Idea’s 118 million during the same time.

Jio only has 4G subscribers, so its 4G user count is phenomenal compared to what Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel have. Even the data consumption rate went up by 28.7% YoY to 18.8GB per month.

Airtel Payments Bank, the fintech arm of Bharti Airtel, also performed great with an increase in monthly transacting users by 26% YoY, leading to expanding revenues and profit margin. For India, Airtel’s capex spend during Q4 FY22 was Rs 4,277 crore.

Bharti Airtel rolled out additional 7000 towers during the quarter to upgrade the network experience of its users across the nation. The company said that its Home business is also growing at a strong momentum with revenue growth of 45.8% YoY and customer net additions of 323,000 during the quarter to reach a total base of 4.5 million.

Airtel Business also grew with strong momentum (12.9% YoY growth). The demand for enterprise services with 5G should help Airtel Business expand revenues and growth further.

Airtel Digital TV had 17.6 million users at the end of March 31, 2022. The company continues to hold its leadership position in the DTH (Direct-to-Home) sector.