Bharti Airtel Q4 net profit up 2.8% to Rs 1,290 crore

Telecom major Bharti Airtel on Wednesday reported 2.8% jump in net profit to Rs 1,290 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2015-16. It had reported net profit of Rs 1,255 crore in the January-March period of the 2014-15 fiscal.

Airtel said in a statement that its total revenues rose 8.4% to Rs 24,960 crore for the reported quarter as compared to Rs 23,016 crore last year. For the entire 2015-16, the company's net profit stood at Rs 5,484 crore whereas total revenues are to the tune of Rs 96,532 crore. 

Its India revenues for the quarter, at Rs 18,328 crore, grew by 11.7% year-on-year, adjusted for the impact in reduction of termination rates. Mobile data revenues at Rs 3,357 crore grew by 44.5% y-o-y in India, led by increase in the data customer base and traffic.

Mobile data revenues now contribute to 23.3% of mobile India revenues vis-a-vis 17.6% in the year-ago quarter. Data average revenue per user (ARPU) has moved up by Rs 21 to Rs 196 during the quarter, led by 31.0% increase in usage per customer. 

"Solid execution has resulted in an acceleration of revenue market share...Y-o-y mobile data growth continues to lead, with traffic and revenues up 69.4% and 44.5% respectively. Voice volumes have also increased 10.8%-the fastest growth in the last 18 quarters," Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO, India & South Asia, Bharti Airtel said.

He added that with the proposed spectrum acquisitions from Videocon & Aircel, the company will be the only pan-India 2G/3G/4G operator and best placed in the industry to strengthen its leadership position.

In constant currency terms, Africa revenues adjusted for the impact of divestment of tower assets grew by 5.9% y-o-y, the highest growth in last six quarters. Data revenues now contribute to 15.7% of overall Africa revenues vis-?-vis 11.5% in the corresponding quarter last year. 

"Despite the quarter seasonality in the continent, data consumption and revenues have are up 110.1% and 43.0% Y-o-Y respectively," Christian de Faria, MD and CEO, Africa, Bharti Airtel said.

The net debt of the company increased to Rs 83,888.3 crore as on March 31, 2016. The Board has proposed a final dividend of Rs 1.36 per share (face value of Rs 5 per share) for the financial year ended March 31, 2016.