Bharti Airtel Q2 Results: Net Profit Rises 33% As ARPU Expands To Rs 190

Bharti Airtel Ltd.'s second-quarter net profit rose due to expansion in average revenue per user on the back of premiumisation.

Net profit of the telecom operator rose 33% sequentially to Rs 2,145.2 crore for the quarter ended September 2022, according to its exchange filing. That compares with the Rs 2,327.4-crore consensus estimate of analysts tracked by Bloomberg.

Bharti Airtel Q2 FY23 Highlights (Consolidated QoQ)

• Revenue increased 5% to Rs 34,526.8 crore, compared to the estimate of Rs 34,000.5 crore.

• Ebitda increased 7% to Rs 17,721.2 crore against the estimated Rs 17,228.6 crore.

• Ebitda margin increased to 51.3% from 50.6%. Analysts had forecast 50.7%.

Average revenue per user of the company increased 3.6% sequentially to Rs 190 during the period. Customer base saw marginal growth of 0.1% at 328 million by Sept. 30. Net addition to subscribers went down 61.2% at only 490,000.

"The consistency of our execution is driven by the strength and resilience of our portfolio. Our B2B and Homes business continued their strong growth momentum while Mobile ARPU expanded to 190 on the back of premiumization and deep customer understanding," said Gopal Vittal, managing director and chief executive officer, India & South Asia at Bharti Airtel.

Vittal said the low ROCE due to the lowest pricing in the world remains a concern. "Given the large investments required to drive digital adoption in India we believe there is a need for tariff correction."