Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on August 8 reported a 466 percent year-on-year (YoY) jump in net profit at Rs 1,607 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2022.
In the corresponding quarter last year, the company posted a net profit of Rs 284 crore. CNBC-TV18 Polls had predicted a profit of Rs 2,472 crore for the quarter under review.
Total revenue stood at Rs 32,804.6 crore during the period under review, up 22.2 percent against Rs 26,854 crore in the corresponding period of the preceding fiscal. This is an outcome of the company’s focus on acquiring and retaining quality customers and a relentless obsession with customer experience.
Airtel’s average revenue per user or ARPU, a key metrics for all telcos, came in at Rs 183 for the quarter, up from Rs 146 in the corresponding period in the previous fiscal. Airtel’s ARPU continues to be the best in the industry, with average data usage per mobile data customer at 19.5 GBs/month and voice usage per customer at 1,104 minutes/month.
Consolidated EBITDA saw an increase of 25.9 percent YoY to Rs 16,604 crore in the first quarter of this fiscal. This led to an improvement in EBITDA margin from 49.1 percent in the corresponding period in the previous fiscal to 50.6 percent in the first quarter of this fiscal exhibiting the company’s continued focus on operational efficiencies.
EBITDA margins across businesses remained healthy, with India's mobile services EBITDA improving from 49.2 percent in the corresponding period in the previous fiscal to 51.2 percent in the first quarter of this fiscal. Consolidated EBIT increased by 43.7 percent YoY to Rs 7,813 crore. The consolidated net income before exceptional items for the quarter stands at Rs 1,517 crore.
The consolidated net income after exceptional items for the quarter stands at Rs 1,607 crore. The net debt-EBITDA ratio (annualised) and including the impact of leases as of June 30, 2022, is at 2.52 times, compared to 3.03 times as of June 30, 2021.
The consolidated mobile data traffic stood at 12,288 PBs in the quarter with a healthy YoY growth of 17.7 percent. India's revenues for the first quarter stood at Rs 23,319 crore, increasing by 23.8 percent YoY. Mobile revenues grew by 27.4 percent YoY on account of an increase in ARPU and strong 4G customer additions during the year.
The company continues to garner a strong share of the 4G customers in the market and added 20.8 million 4G customers to its network over last year, an increase of 11.3 percent YoY.
The company has a robust customer base of over 185 million across our key digital assets – Thanks, Xstream, and Wynk. Airtel Xstream has achieved the 2 million paid subscriber milestone and is now India’s fastest-growing OTT aggregator platform.
In a statement, Gopal Vittal, managing director, and the chief executive officer said the company continues to deliver strong and sustained growth at 4.5 percent sequentially. EBITDA margins are now at 50.6 percent.
"Our enterprise and homes business has strong momentum and delivered strong double-digit growth, improving the diversity of the overall portfolio. Airtel’s strategy of winning with quality customers continues to yield good results with an industry-beating ARPU at Rs 183," he said.
The results came after the close of the market hours.
