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Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Tuesday reported a 2.8 per cent decline in its consolidated net profit to Rs 830 crore for the third quarter ended December 2021.
The company had recorded a net profit of Rs 854 crore in the same period a year ago.
Consolidated revenue increased by 12.6 per cent to Rs 29,867 crore, from Rs 26,518 crore in the December 2020 quarter.
"The recent tariff revision for mobile services has gone down well and we are exiting the quarter with an industry leading ARPU of Rs 163.
"The full impact of the revised mobile tariffs, however, will be visible in the fourth quarter.
"Our Enterprise, Homes and Africa business continue to deliver strongly, with steady increase in contribution to the overall mix of the portfolio," Bharti Airtel MD and CEO for India and South Asia Gopal Vittal said.
He added that the company's balance sheet is robust and now generating healthy free cash flows that enabled Bharti Airtel to prepay some of its spectrum liabilities to the government which led to a reduction in the interest burden.
The consolidated net debt of the company increased to Rs 1.59 lakh crore in the December 2021 quarter from Rs 1.47 lakh crore in the year-ago period.
Bharti Airtel's India revenue during the reported quarter grew by 10 per cent on a year-on-year basis to Rs 20,913 crore from Rs 19,007 crore earlier.
Mobile revenues jumped 19.1 per cent YoY.
The total customer base of the company stood at 48.5 crore across 16 countries where it operates, with India accounting for 35.5 crore subscribers.
The mobile services revenue in India grew by 9 per cent to Rs 16,091.7 crore, as against Rs 14,779 crore in the quarter ended December 2020.
The average revenue per user (ARPU) of Bharti Airtel in India during the reported quarter declined by 2.2 per cent to Rs 163, as against Rs 166 earlier.
Its 4G customer base in India grew by 18.1 per cent to 19.5 crore in the December 2021 quarter, from 16.56 crore in the year-ago period.
Data usage per customer on Bharti Airtel India network rose 11.7 per cent to 18.28 gigabytes from 16.37 GB.
The company's capital expenditure for the quarter dropped to Rs 6,101.5 crore, from Rs 6,863.8 crore in the corresponding period a year ago.
Photograph: Sivaram V/Reuters