Bharti Airtel Q4 net profit up 89% at Rs 962 cr

Country's largest mobile operator Bharti Airtel today reported 89 per cent rise in the fourth- quarter consolidated net profit at Rs 962 crore on higher revenue from data business and rise in mobile services rates.

The Sunil Bharti Mittal-led company had reported net profit of Rs 509 crore in the January-March quarter of the 2012-13 fiscal.

After declining profits for 15 straight quarters, Airtel returned to growth in the third quarter led by rise in mobile data revenue and better realisation from voice services.
"Consolidated mobile data revenues (Q4) at Rs 1,900 crore grew by 93.4 per cent year-on-year, accounting for more than one-third of the growth," the company said in a statement.

The total revenue for Q4, 2013-14 was up 13.5 per cent to Rs 22,219 crore as compared to Rs 19,582 crore a year ago.

For the full 2013-14 fiscal, the net profit rose 21.8 per cent to Rs 2,773 crore as against Rs 2,276 crore in previous year. Revenue was up 11.5 per cent to Rs 85,746 crore.

Annual consolidated revenues were mainly driven by mobile data (96.3 per cent), DTH (27.5 per cent), Airtel Business (19.1 per cent) and South Asia (41.2 per cent).

"The year has ended on a satisfying note, both in operational and financial terms. Network and spectrum investments, a refreshed IT strategy, innovative service platforms and an energised organisation will enable sustained growth in India and South Asia," Bharti Airtel MD and CEO (India & South Asia) Gopal Vittal said.

"Mobile data revenue (India), at Rs 1,325 crore, registered a growth of 89.2 per cent Y-o-Y while telemedia, DTH and Airtel Business registered double digit revenue growth," the company said.

Data contributed 11.1 per cent to the revenue from mobile services in India, compared with 6.5 per cent last year.

The company said it continues to accelerate mobile data growth in India with 58.1 million data customers as on March 31, 2014, representing a growth of 33.5 per cent as compared to 43.5 million users at the end of the same period last year.

"By the end of the quarter, 28.3 per cent of the total customer base were active data users as compared to 23.1 per cent in the corresponding quarter last year," it said.
At the end of March 31, the company had 20.55 crore users in India with an overall Average Revenue Per User of Rs 196. Data ARPU increased 43.4 per cent to Rs 79 during the quarter, as compared to Rs 55 in the year-ago period.