Bharti Airtel Q3 PAT declines 2.8% YoY to Rs 830 cr; ARPU rises 11.6% YoY to Rs 163

8 Feb 2022 , 04:11 PM

The telecom operator posted quarterly revenues of Rs 29,867 crore, rising 12.63% year on year and 18.3% on comparable basis, backed by strong and consistent performance delivery across the portfolio.

Consolidated profit before tax stood sharply higher at Rs 2,602 crore in Q3 FY22 as compared to Rs 592 crore recorded in Q3 FY21. EBITDA grew 22.4% to Rs 14,905 crore in Q3 FY22 from Rs 12,178 crore posted in Q3 FY21. Airtel said EBITDA expansion was broad based and the portfolio remained well balanced with India non-mobile and Africa business contributing 17.0% and 30.1% respectively. EBITDA margin improved by 398 basis points to 49.9% in Q3 FY22 from 45.9% posted in the same period last year.

India business revenues for Q3 FY22 stood at Rs 20,913 crore increasing 17.9% year on year on a comparable basis and 10% year on year on a reported basis. Mobile revenues grew by 19.1% year on year on comparable basis on account of upside in ARPU led by pricing intervention and continued momentum in 4G customer addition. Consolidated mobile data traffic at 11,014 PBs in the quarter with a healthy year on year growth of 34.5%.

Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) rose 11.63% year on year and came in at Rs 163 in Q3 FY22 as compared to Rs 146 in Q3 FY21 on comparable basis. The telecom company said it continues to garner strong share of the 4G customers in the market. 4G data customers increased by 18.1% YoY to 195.5 million. The company added 29.9 million 4G customers to its network over last year. Meanwhile, total customer base in India stood at 356 million at the end of Q3 FY22.

Airtels Homes business segment continued to demonstrate strong revenue growth of 40.4% year on year with customer net additions of 341,000 during the quarter to reach to a total base of 4.16 million. Revenue of Digital TV remained stable and continued to perpetuate its standing with 18.1 million customer base at the end of quarter.

Revenue (in constant currency) from Africa business was up by 20% year on year. EBITDA margin stood at 49.5%, up by 268 basis points year on year. Customer base stands at 125.8 million at the end of December 2021.

In a statement, Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO, India & South Asia said, ?We have delivered another quarter of sustained performance across all our business segments. Overall Sequential revenue growth was at 5.4% and EBITDA margins came in at 49.9%. 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. Our balance sheet is robust and we are now generating healthy free cash flows. This has enabled us to recently prepay some of our spectrum liabilities to the Government thereby reducing the interest burden. Googles recent investment is a strong validation of Airtels role in being a leading pioneer of Indias digital revolution. Our emerging digital services portfolio across Airtel IQ, AdTech, digital market place, Nxtra and digital banking positions us well to build an Airtel of the future.?

The Net Debt-EBITDA ratio (annualized), including the impact of leases as on 31 December 2021 stood at 2.67 times as compared to 3.03 times as on 31 December 2020.

Bharti Airtel is a global communications solutions provider with over 480 Mn customers in 18 countries across South Asia and Africa.

Shares of Bharti Airtel ended 0.12% higher at Rs 707.35 on Tuesday.

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