Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Tuesday, May 16, reported a 50 percent year-on-year (YoY) jump in net profit at Rs 3,005.6 crore for the fourth quarter that ended March 31, 2023. In the corresponding quarter last year, the company posted a net profit of Rs 2,008 crore, the company said in an exchange filing. CNBC-TV18 Polls had predicted a profit of Rs 2,800 crore for the quarter under review.

In the March quarter, revenue from operations stood at Rs 36,009 crore during the period under review, up 14 percent against Rs 31,500 crore in the corresponding period of the preceding fiscal. CNBC-TV18 Polls had predicted a slightly higher revenue of Rs 36,500 crore for the quarter under review.

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The average revenue per user (ARPU) for the quarter stood at Rs 193 compared to Rs 178 in the corresponding period of the preceding fiscal on the back of our continued focus on acquiring quality customers and delivering enhanced customer experience, the company stated.

The consolidated mobile data traffic was at 14,030 PBs in the quarter with a healthy year-on-year growth of 21.5 percent it said.

The company's India revenues for the current quarter stood at Rs 25,250 crore, which increased by 12.2 percent YoY. The mobile revenues grew by 11.5 percent YoY on account of improved realisation as well as strong 4G customer additions during the year.

"We strengthened our leadership position in the postpaid segment with a customer base of 35.6 million (including IoT). We continue to garner a strong share of the 4G customers in the market and added 23.3 million 4G data customers to our network over last year, an increase of 11.6 percent year-on-year," the company said.

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Bharti Airtel’s ARPU continues to be the best in the industry and average data usage per data customer is at 20.3 GBs/month. The homes business continues its strong momentum and delivers a revenue growth of 25.2 percent year-on-year. The company added 404,000 customers during the quarter to reach a total base of six million.

The consolidated EBITDA witnessed an increase of 17.6 percent YoY to Rs 18,807 crore in Q4 of FY23. This led to an improvement in EBITDA margin from 50.8 percent in Q4 FY22 to 52.2 percent in Q4 FY23 on the back of continued focus on the telecom major’s ‘War on Waste’ programme to drive cost optimisation.

EBITDA margins across businesses remained healthy, with India's EBITDA margins improving from 50.8 percent in Q4 of the last fiscal to 53.1 percent in Q4 2022-23. EBITDA is earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation.

The consolidated EBIT increased by 28.3 percent year-on-year to Rs 9,387 crore. The consolidated net income before exceptional items for the quarter stands at Rs 2,592 crore. The consolidated net income after exceptional items grew by 49.7 percent year-on-year to Rs 3,006 crore.

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For FY23, the board has recommended a final dividend of Rs 4 per fully paid-up equity share of a face value of Rs 5 each and Rs 1 per partly paid-up equity share of a face value of Rs 5 each (paid-up Rs 1.25 per equity share).

First Published:May 16, 2023 4:52 PM IST