MUMBAI: It is one of the two telco bellwethers in India, the other being Jio. And it appears to be doing very well, thank you going by Bharti Airtel Ltd's consolidated results for the third quarter ended 31 December 2024. It reported significant growth driven by momentum in India and stable performance in Africa.
Financial Highlights:
* Consolidated revenue rose 19.1 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 45,129 crore, up 8.8 per cent sequentially.
* Consolidated EBITDA stood at Rs 24,880 crore, marking a 24.1 per cent YoY increase, with a margin of 55.1 per cent.
* EBITDA after lease expenses (EBITDAaL) increased by 26.1 per cent YoY to Rs 21,474 crore, reflecting a margin of 47.6 per cent .
* EBIT grew 33.3 per cent YoY to Rs 13,126 crore, with a margin of 29.1 per cent .
* Net income (before exceptional items) reached Rs 5,514 crore, up 121.3 per cent YoY.
* Capex for the quarter totalled Rs 9,161 crore.
India Business Performance:
* Revenue from India operations rose 24.6 per cent YoY to Rs 34,654 crore.
* Mobile services revenue increased by 21.4 per cent YoY, driven by tariff adjustments, higher smartphone adoption, and portfolio premiumisation.
* Mobile average revenue per user (ARPU) improved to Rs 245, up from Rs 208 in Q3 FY24.
* Mobile data consumption surged by 23.2 per cent YoY, with average consumption per customer at 24.5 GB per month.
* EBITDA rose 32.3 per cent YoY to Rs 19,850 crore, with an EBITDA margin of 57.3 per cent .
* EBITDAaL stood at Rs 17,641 crore, with a margin of 50.9 per cent .
* Capex for India operations was Rs 7,980 crore.
Segment Highlights:
* Homes Business: Revenue grew by 18.7 per cent YoY, with 674,000 net customer additions driven by fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) and fixed wireless access (FWA). The customer base reached 9.2 million.
* Airtel Business: Revenue increased by 8.7 per cent YoY despite global pressures. Emerging digital services, including cloud and security, showed strong growth.
* Digital TV: Revenue declined by 2.9 per cent YoY to Rs 761 crore. The customer base stood at 15.8 million.
* Passive Infrastructure Services: Contributed 5.7 per cent YoY and 5 per cent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) to India revenue growth.
Africa Operations:
* Revenue in constant currency rose by 21.3 per cent YoY.
* EBITDA margin stood at 47.1 per cent , while EBIT margin was 29.4 per cent .
* Customer base reached 163.1 million.
* Capex for Africa operations totalled Rs 1,181 crore.
Operational Achievements:
* Bharti Airtel rolled out approximately 5,200 towers and 16,300 mobile broadband stations during the quarter.
* The company expanded its fibre network by 47,100 km YoY.
* The anti-spam tool notified 252 million customers and identified over 1 million spammers.
* Airtel’s AI-driven network detected over 7 million spam SMS daily.
* Zee5 was added to the Airtel Xstream Play platform, enhancing content offerings.
Debt Management:
* Net debt to EBITDAaL ratio (excluding lease obligations) stood at 1.56 times.
* The company prepaid Rs 3,626 crore towards deferred spectrum liabilities.
Vice-chairman & managing director Gopal Vittal commented: “We delivered a strong quarter with consolidated revenue of Rs 45,129 crore. Our India mobile business showed robust performance, driven by tariff adjustments and premiumisation. We continued to lead the industry with ARPU growth and added 6.5 million smartphone users. Homes business saw accelerated customer additions, while Airtel Business navigated global headwinds with stability.
“Our strong cash generation and prudent capital allocation allowed us to continue deleveraging and prepay high-cost spectrum dues. Further tariff corrections are necessary to sustain investments and create long-term value for the industry,” he added.
