Q4FY18: Bharti Airtel profit plunges 78% YoY to Rs 83 crore

Bharti Airtel on Tuesday reported a profit of Rs 83 crore for the March quarter against analysts’ estimates of a loss by the firm. The profit has dipped by 78 per cent against Rs 373 crore that the firm reported during the same quarter last year. In the previous quarter, it had reported a profit of Rs 306 crore, implying a dip of 72 per cent.

The company's revenue fell over 3 per cent at Rs 19,634 crore against Rs 20,318 crore in the previous quarter. On a YoY basis, the revenue has seen a fall of over 10 percent.

At an operating level, the EBITDA fell 7 percent (down 12 per cent year-on-year) at Rs 7,034 crore against Rs 7,587 crore QoQ, while the operating margin came in at 35.8 per cent, down from 37.3 per cent QoQ. The margin was reported at 36.4 per cent in Q4 of FY17.

Its India revenues were reported 13 per cent lower YoY at Rs 14,796 crore, while the India EBITDA is reported at Rs 5,237.2 crore, down 22 per cent YoY. The operating margin is reported at 35.4 per cent, down 390 basis points year-on-year.

The Sunil Mittal-led company saw overall customer base at 413.8 million. This is excluding divested units. Additionally, mobile data traffic grew to 1,616 billion MBs in the quarter.


It also informed the bourses that acquisition of Tigo Rwanda was consummated during the quarter.


“The telecom industry continues to witness below cost, artificially suppressed pricing. Industry revenues were further adversely impacted this quarter due to the reduction in International termination rates...Our strategic investments in data capacities, innovative digital content through Airtel TV, customer friendly bundles and upgrade programs led to the highest ever mobile data customer additions of 15 Mn during the quarter. Usage parameters remained robust– on a YoY basis, we saw data and voice traffic grow 584% and 55% respectively," Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO, India & South Asia, said in a statement.

The company reported a forex loss of Rs 330.6 crore against a loss of Rs 70 crore QoQ.

The company’s Africa revenue was reported at Rs 4,971.3 crore against Rs 5,129 crore QoQ.

The African operating profit also dipped to Rs 1,791.1 crore against Rs 1,818 crore in the previous quarter. The operating margin in this case was reported at 35.9 per cent against 35.5 per cent in the previous quarter.

The average revenue per user (ARPU) reported at Rs 116, a dip of 5.9 percent quarter on quarter and 26.7 percent year on year. The data usage per user was at 6585 MB, up 23.1 percent QoQ, while on YoY basis it has risen 395 per cent.

Its minutes of usage is up 16.6 percent QoQ (up 42.3 percent YoY) at 670 against 575.

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