Airtel registers 31 pc decline in Q4 net profit

New Delhi: Telecom major Bharti Airtel on Tuesday reported a 31 per cent decline in its consolidated net profit at Rs 2,072 crore for the Jan-March quarter of 2023-24 compared to the corresponding figure of Rs 3,006 crore in the same period of the previous year.

The Sunil Mittal-led company posted a 4 per cent increase in revenue from operations during the quarter at Rs 37,599 crore from Rs 36,009 crore in the same period last year.

The company’s board of directors have recommended a dividend of Rs 8 per equity share of Rs 5 face value.

Airtel MD Gopal Vittal said that the consolidated performance was impacted primarily by the devaluation of the Nigerian Naira.

The telco added 7.8 million smartphone customers and delivered an ARPU (average revenue per user) of Rs 209 as compared to Rs 193 in Q4FY23.

Consolidated mobile data traffic was at 17,702 PBs in the quarter with a healthy YoY growth of 26.2 per cent.

The telco's India subscriber base grew 2.4 per cent to reach 406 million in the quarter.

Gopal Vittal said: "We ended the year on a strong note with consistent performance across all businesses, both on customer metrics as well as financial parameters. India revenue (adjusted for Beetel) grew by 1.7 per cent with EBITDA margin expanding to 54.1 per cent, despite one day less in the quarter."

"Our relentless focus on improving customer experience has resulted in the 20 per cent churn reduction during the quarter. At the same time, our return on capital employed continues to remain low due to the absence of tariff repair in the industry," he added.