Bharti Airtel has announced its audited consolidated financial results for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2023. The consolidated revenues for the reported quarter stood at Rs 360.09 billion – up 14.3 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) was at Rs 188.07 billion while the EBITDA margin was 52.2 per cent, an improvement of 144 bps YoY on the back of continued focus on its War on Waste program to drive cost optimisation. The company’s consolidated net income (before exceptional items) at Rs 25.92 billion, up by 39.3 per cent YoY. The consolidated net income (after exceptional items) grew by 49.7 per cent YoY to Rs 30.06 billion.
With regard to its India business, the telco’s revenues for the reported quarter stood at Rs 252.50 billion – up 12.2 per cent YoY. Mobile services revenues grew by 11.5 per cent YoY, led by continued 4G customer addition and increase in average revenue per user (ARPU). The EBITDA during the period was Rs 134.03 billion, and EBITDA margin was 53.1 per cent, up 225 bps YoY. ARPU for the quarter increased to Rs 193 from Rs 178 during the same quarter last year.
Airtel strengthened its leadership position in postpaid segment with a customer base of 35.6 million, including internet of things (IoT). It continued to garner strong share of the 4G customers in the market and added 23.3 million 4G data customers to its network over last year, an increase of 11.6 per cent YoY. ARPU continues to be the best in industry and average data usage per data customer at 20.3 GB per month.
Commenting on the results, Gopal Vittal, managing director, Airtel, said, “This has been another strong quarter as we end the fiscal year having further strengthened our portfolio. Our consolidated revenue grew sequentially by 0.6 per cent, while EBITDA margin expanded to 52.2 per cent despite there being two fewer days in the quarter. Our focus on acquiring quality customers has resulted in 7.4 million new 4G customers, as we exit the quarter with an industry leading ARPU of Rs 193. A simple strategy and our relentless focus on execution has ensured that we close the year with market share gains across all businesses. We are also pleased to see the increased velocity of our digital deliveries across all parts of our business. This has been due to our sustained focus on digital platforms and talent. We continue to ramp up our 5G roll out and expect to connect all major towns and key villages by the end of this year.”
