The Hindu : Business : Bharti Airtel profit rises to Rs. 2,046 cr. in second quarter

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Nov 01, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Business

Business

Bharti Airtel profit rises to Rs. 2,046 cr. in second quarter

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel, which has an overall customer base of 7.99 crore, reported a 27 per cent increase in its profit at Rs. 2,046 crore for the quarter ended September 2008, against Rs. 1,614 crore in the year-ago period. Its revenue crossed Rs. 9,000 crore and stood at Rs. 9,020 crore against Rs. 3,337 crore, registering a 42 per cent growth. However, it suffered a foreign exchange loss of Rs. 586 crore due to weaker rupee.

Bharti Airtel added 81-lakh mobile users in the quarter. It has now become third largest cellular operator in the world in terms of subscriber base after China Unicom and China Mobile. Its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation margin, a key gauge of profitability, was 37 per cent, while its average revenue per user (ARPU) fell 8 per cent to Rs. 335 in the second quarter as it expanded services to rural areas, but its minutes of usage grew by 12 per cent to 526 minutes.

Bharti Airtel’s CEO and Joint Managing Director Manoj Kohli said the company had got additional spectrum in three telecom circles — Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Bihar — where they would start operations soon, while radio waves for six more circles was likely to be released soon. “We will continue to expand and upgrade our services,” he added.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Business