Bharti Airtel, India’s second-largest telecom company, released its second-quarter (July-September) earnings on October 31. The company's consolidated net profit for Q2FY23 rose 89 percent to Rs 2,145.2 crore against Rs 1,134 crore reported a year back, thanks to strong growth in data traffic.
The profit was in line with analysts' projections.
Its total revenue stood at Rs 34,526.8 crore, up 22 percent from Rs 28,326.4 crore reported in the corresponding quarter last year.
Analysts had estimated a 75 to 110 percent year-on-year (YoY) growth in net profit while revenue growth was pegged at around 20 percent.
On a consolidated basis, which includes numbers from its operations in 16 countries, its voice traffic grew 5.1 percent while data traffic jumped 20.9 percent. The customer base was at 50.1 crore across 16 countries, up 4.8 percent YoY.
Consolidated EBITDA was at Rs 17,721.2 crore during the quarter, up 26.4 percent YoY and 6.7 percent QoQ. EBITDA margin for the quarter was at 51.3 percent as compared to 49.5 percent in the corresponding quarter last year and 50.6 percent in the previous quarter.
India operations
Overall India revenues – including mobile services, home services, digital TV services and B2C services – for the quarter stood at Rs 24,333.3 crore, up 22.3 percent vis-à-vis Rs 19,890.4 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. India's EBITDA margin also expanded for the quarter and was at 51.8 percent as compared to 49.6 percent in the corresponding quarter last year and 51.0 percent in the previous quarter.
For the Mobile services segment in India, which is the biggest segment for the company, revenues for the quarter stood at Rs 18,957.6 crore, up by 24.8 percent YoY. EBITDA for the quarter was Rs 9,925.8 crore as compared to Rs 7,467.9 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. EBITDA margin was 52.4 percent during the quarter as compared to 49.2 percent in the corresponding quarter last year and 51.2 percent in the previous quarter.
Its India average revenue per user (ARPU) per month was at Rs 190 during the quarter, the company said, rising 3.6 percent sequentially and 23.7 percent annually.
The telecom firm said its India business saw 4.2 percent growth in voice traffic during the quarter and 19.6 percent growth in data traffic. Incidentally, higher usage drove the earnings of the company. The customer base, however, was up just 1.3 percent YoY and 0.1 percent QoQ.
Debt rises
Consolidated net debt excluding lease obligations for the company stood at Rs 1,57,277.6 crore as on September 30, 2022, compared to Rs 1,31,341.2 crore as on September 30, 2021. Consolidated net debt for the company including the impact of leases stands at Rs 2,09,641.9 crore.
The Net Debt-EBITDA ratio (annualised) and including the impact of leases for the quarter was at 2.96 times as compared to 2.52 times in the previous quarter.
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