Bharti Airtel’s consolidated net income for the second quarter ended September 30, 2016 declined 4.9% to reach Rs 1,461, as compared to Rs 1,536 crore in corresponding quarter last year, the company said in a statement. The telco said that its mobile business experienced a slowdown in growths during the quarter due to free services being offered by a new operator.
Airtel’s consolidated revenues stood at Rs 24,652 crore grew 5.6% on an yearly basis on an underlying basis, adjusted for Africa divested operating units and tower assets sale. It said that consolidated revenue growth muted by 3.3% on account of full quarter impact of Nigeria currency devaluation. Consolidated mobile data revenues at Rs 4,536 crore grew by 21.0% Y-o-Y on underlying basis.
“Our strong focus on enhancing customer experience and building a robust network has resulted in continued acceleration of revenue market share,” Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO, India & South Asia, said in a statement.
Vittal said that overall revenue momentum in India has been sustained during the second quarter with a growth of 10.1% year-on-year, primarily due to the strong performance of our non-mobile businesses which grew in aggregate at 18.8% Y-o-Y, albeit our mobile business has experienced a slowdown in growths due to free services being offered by a new operator.
“But, we remain excited about the long term opportunity in India and believe that with the recently acquired spectrum, we are well positioned to lead India’s data revolution,” he added.
AIRTEL INDIA
Airtel’s India revenues for the quarter stood at Rs 19,219 crore grew by 10.1% on yearly basis, led by healthy growth of 20.9% in Digital TV, 19.2% in Airtel Business, 14.9% in Homes and 7.9% in Mobile.
Mobile data revenues grew by 23.6% on yearly-basis at Rs 3,576 crore, led by increase in the data customer base by 22.8% and traffic by 54.9%. Mobile broadband customers increased by 62.2% to 41.3 million from 25.5 million in the corresponding quarter last year.
The company said that data ARPU has moved up by Rs 8 on an yearly basis to Rs 201 in the quarter, led by 30.6% increase in usage per customer. Mobile data revenues now contribute to 24.7% of Mobile India revenues, as compared to 21.5% in the corresponding quarter last year.
AIRTEL AFRICA
Over the last 2 quarters, Bharti Airtel had divested 2 country telecom operations--Burkina Faso & Sierra Leone-- in Africa. Airtel Africa underlying revenues grew by 4.7% on a yearly basis, continuing the growth trajectory of past few quarters.
Africa data revenues stood at $ 147 million grew by 24.9% a yearly basis, led by increase in data customer base by 32.3% and traffic by 116.8%. Data ARPU moved to $2.9 from $ 3.0 in the corresponding quarter last year. Data revenues now contribute to 16.3% of overall Africa revenues vis-à-vis 13.6% in the corresponding quarter last year. The company’s consolidated net debt excluding the deferred payment liabilities to the telecom department and finance lease obligations has decreased to $6,547 million from $ 6,891 million in the previous quarter.
