Bharti Airtel has announced its audited consolidated financial results for the third quarter ended December 31, 2022. The quarterly revenues for the reported quarter stood at Rs 358.04 billion – up 19.9 per cent year-on-year (YoY), backed by strong and consistent performance delivery across the portfolio. Consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) at Rs 186.01 billion while the EBITDA margin was 52.0 per cent, an improvement of 205 bps YoY. The company’s consolidated net income (before exceptional items) at Rs 19.94 billion, up by 147 per cent YoY.
With regard to its India business, the telco’s revenues for the reported quarter stood at Rs 249.62 billion – up 19.4 per cent YoY. Mobile services revenues grew by 20.8 per cent YoY, led by continued 4G customer addition and increase in average revenue per user (ARPU). The EBITDA during the period was Rs 131.67 billion, and EBITDA margin was 52.7 per cent, up 299 bps YoY. ARPU for the quarter stood at Rs 193 as compared to Rs 163 in Q3’22 on the back of the telco’s continued focus on quality customers and premiumisation.
Airtel strengthened its leadership position in postpaid segment with a customer base of 32.5 million, including internet of things (IoT). It continues to garner strong share of the 4G customers in the market and added 21.2 million 4G data customers to its network over last year, an increase of 10.8 per cent YoY. ARPU continues to be the best in industry and average data usage per data customer at 20.3GB per month.
Commenting on the results, Gopal Vittal, managing director and chief executive officer, Airtel, said, “We have delivered another quarter of consistent and competitive growth across all our businesses. Revenue grew sequentially by 3.7 per cent, while EBITDA margin expanded to 52 per cent. Our strategy of winning quality customers has helped us add 6.4 million 4G customers and exit the quarter with an industry leading ARPU of Rs 193. Postpaid, enterprise, homes as well as our Africa business sustained their momentum while the direct-to-home (DTH) business showed signs of growth in an industry that continues to be under pressure. Our overall performance is testimony to the breadth and diversity of our portfolio that spans across both geographies as well as businesses. Our 5G rollout is on track to cover all towns and key rural areas by March 2024.”
