JOIN USTelecom major Bharti Airtel today reported around 31 per cent decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,462 crore for the first quarter of 2016-17 mainly due to high capital expenditure during the period.
The company had reported a net profit of Rs 2,113.2 crore in the same period last fiscal.
"Net Income for the quarter stands at Rs 1,462 crore compared to Rs 2,113 crore in corresponding quarter last year. Q1'16 Net Income of Rs 2,113 crore has been re-instated to Ind-AS from previously reported IFRS figures which includes an exceptional gain of Rs 556 crore on account of this reinstatement," Airtel said in a statement.
As per the IFRS format, the net profit was Rs 1,554.3 crore in April-June 2015-16.
Airtel's net income in India dipped by 8.7 per cent to Rs 2,051.3 crore from Rs 2,248.5 crore during the quarter under review. Net loss of the company, before exceptional items, in South Asia widened to Rs 251 crore in the reported quarter compared to Rs 234.6 crore a year ago.
However, net loss before exceptional item in Africa narrowed to Rs 520.4 crore from Rs 976.3 crore on year-on-year (y-o-y) basis.
Total consolidated revenue of Airtel in the reported quarter increased by 7.9 per cent to Rs 25,572.9 crore from Rs 23,680.8 crore in the year-ago period.
Amid regulatory pressure on operators to address the call drop menace, the capital expenditure of Airtel spiked 23 per cent year-on-year to Rs 4,925.2 crore in the quarter under review from Rs 3,992.1 crore.
In India, Airtel increased capital expenditure by 40 per cent to Rs 4,121.7 crore in April-June compared to Rs 2,941.8 crore a year ago. The company reduced capex in South Asia and Africa on y-o-y basis to Rs 53.1 crore and Rs 750.4 crore respectively.
The consolidated net debt of the company increased by 23.2 per cent to Rs 83,491.5 from Rs 67,746 crore.
Airtel said that its India revenues for the reported quarter grew by 10.3 per cent at Rs 19,155 crore compared to Rs 17,369.6 crore in the corresponding period of 2015-16.
The company attributed growth in India to 9.1 per cent increase in Mobile, 11 per cent in Homes Services (broadband), 22.2 per cent in Digital TV and 10.4 per cent in Airtel Business on yearly basis.
"The year has begun well with revenue growth of 10.3 per cent Y-o-Y and continued revenue market share gains. In continuation of our Project Leap announcement, we have now transparently opened up our entire mobile network to our customers," Bharti Airtel MD and CEO for India and South Asia Gopal Vittal said.
Consolidated mobile data revenues at Rs 4,640 crore grew by 34.1 per cent on year-on-year basis.
Airtel reported increase in total mobile customer base in India at 255 million, but the average revenue per user declined to Rs 196 in April-June from Rs 198 a year ago.
Airtel's rival Vodafone last week reported similar trend. The average revenue per user of Vodafone India declined to Rs 176.36, from Rs 183.5 a year ago.
Airtel's revenue from voice calls declined to Rs 139 per user from Rs 148 per user but the same for data increased Rs 202 from Rs 181 on y-o-y basis. Similar trend was seen in its South Asia and African market.
The company in India almost doubled investment in network to transmit high speed 3G and 4G services. In the reported quarter, Airtel had 1,57,055 mobile towers of which 1,08,015 were transmitting mobile broadband. In April-June 2015, Airtel had only 57,078 mobile towers delivering high speed mobile internet signals.
Airtel said that it had 58.9 million data customers in India.
Airtel Africa revenue marginally increased in the reported quarter to Rs 6,249.3 crore from Rs 6,159.5 crore a year ago.
In last two years, Bharti Airtel has undertaken tower assets sales in 11 countries (with 9 closed and settled and 2 to be closed shortly) and divested 2 country telecom operations (Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone) - for a sum total consideration of USD 3.25 billion (Rs 21,947.25 crore), the company said.
Airtel Africa data revenues grew by 31.2 per cent at Rs 1039.96 crore (USD 154 million) due to increase in data customer base by 26 per cent and traffic by 106.2 per cent. The total customer base of Airtel in Africa, however, declined by 1.7 per cent to 76.9 million at the end of reported quarter from 78.3 million a year ago.
Data ARPU of Airtel Africa increased to USD 3.2 from USD 3.1 in the corresponding quarter last year.
Airtel revenue from South Asia business grew by 7 per cent to Rs 414.3 crore from Rs 388.6 crore on y-o-y basis.
The company gained across geographies in data business.
Mobile Data revenues now contribute to 23.7 per cent of total revenue from mobile services compared to 19.2 per cent in the corresponding quarter last year.
Bharti Airtel had over 357 million customers across its operations at the end of June 2016.
The company increased headcount in India by 1,097 on yearly basis taking total number to 19,861. However, it reduced the headcount in South Asia and Africa by 81 and 803 respectively.
"During the quarter, Nigerian Naira devalued by 42.1 per cent, net forex losses of Rs 748 crore on account of this has been classified under exceptional items," Airtel said
Except for Nigeria, stable currencies in most of the geographies resulted in lower forex and derivative losses of Rs 309 crore compared to Rs 797 crore in the corresponding quarter last year, it added.
Shares of Bharti Airtel closed at Rs 372.55 a unit, up by 0.8 per cent compared to previous close, at BSE today.
"During the quarter, Nigerian Naira devalued by 42.1 per cent, net forex losses of Rs 748 crore on account of this has been classified under exceptional items," Airtel said.
Except for Nigeria, stable currencies in most of the geographies resulted in lower forex and derivative losses of Rs 309 crore compared to Rs 797 crore in the corresponding quarter last year, it added.
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