Bharti Airtel has announced its audited consolidated financial results for the quarter ended (QE) December 31, 2023. The consolidated revenues for the quarter stood at Rs 379 billion – up 5.9 per cent year-on-year (YoY). Consolidated revenue growth was partially impacted by devaluation of African currencies during the period.
Consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) witnessed an increase of 7.8 per cent YoY to Rs 200.44 billion in the third quarter (Q3) of the fiscal year 2023-24 (FY24). EBITDA margin improved from 52 per cent in Q3 FY23 to 52.9 per cent in Q3 FY24. Meanwhile, EBITDA margins across businesses in India remained healthy, improving from 52.7 per cent in Q3 FY23 to 53.9 per cent in Q3 FY24. Improvement in EBITDA margin was on the back of operating leverage and cost efficiencies arising from the War on Waste program. Further, consolidated earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) increased by 6.3 per cent YoY to Rs 98.44 billion. Meanwhile, the consolidated net income before exceptional items for the quarter stands at Rs 24.92 billion, and the consolidated net income after exceptional items stood at Rs 24.42 billion.
With regard to its India business, the telco’s revenues for the reported quarter stood at Rs 278.11 billion, increased by 11.4 per cent YoY. Further, mobile revenues grew by 11.8 per cent YoY on account of improved realisation and strong 4G/5G customer additions during the year. Average revenue per user (ARPU) for the quarter stood at Rs 208 as compared to Rs 193 in Q3 FY23 driven by consistent strategy of acquiring high value customers and improved realisations.
The telco strengthened its leadership position in postpaid segment with net adds of 0.9 million, excluding internet of things (IoT). In Q3 FY24, the telco reached a customer base of 48.3 million (including IoT). The company continues to garner strong market share of 4G/5G customers and added 28.2 million 4G/5G data customers to the network over the last year, an increase of 13 per cent YoY. The company further continues to deliver industry leading ARPU along with growing average data usage per data customer at 22 GBs/month.
The operator rolled out around 12,300 towers in the quarter to further strengthen the network coverage and provide seamless connectivity. It has rolled out around 45,000 towers in last 12 months to ensure coverage and connectivity in rural as well as urban areas.
Commenting on the results, Gopal Vittal, managing director and chief executive officer, Airtel, said, “We have delivered yet another quarter of consistent and competitive growth across all our businesses. Revenue from India business sustained its momentum and grew sequentially by 3 per cent, while the consolidated revenue was impacted by the devaluation of the Nigerian Naira and Malawian Kwacha. The quarter witnessed a strong growth trajectory for the postpaid and homes business, while our direct-to-home (DTH) business added 388,000 net additions – the highest in the last 12 quarters. We remain on course with our strategy of premiumisation that helped us add 7.4 million 4G/5G customers and exit the quarter with an industry leading ARPU of Rs 208. Even at this ARPU, our return on capital employed however, continues to be low at 9.4 per cent. To ensure industry health, tariff repair is extremely critical.”
