Growth in volumes across mobile and non-mobile businesses has helped Bharti Airtel to post a “decent” second-quarter performance.
The company reported 27 per cent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 2,046 crore for the September quarter of 2008 against Rs 1,614 crore in the corresponding quarter year ago.
Analysts said the results were largely in line with market expectations while attributing the increase in net profit to growth in volumes across business verticals.
“The company's wireless business has seen healthy growth of volumes despite a fall in average revenue per user (ARPU). This has helped Bharti post better results,” Gaurav Dua, head of research at brokerage firm Sharekhan, said.
ARPU for Q2 stands at Rs 335 compared to Rs 366 a year ago, but the company recorded a growth in its non-mobile business at 43.03 per cent against 37.5 per cent in the year-ago quarter.
Bharti Airtel had 80 million subscribers at the end of the quarter, up by 57 per cent a year ago. About 77.5 million of these are mobile phone users.
The company added 8.09 million mobile users in the September quarter, according to data provided by Cellular Operators Association of India, an industry body representing companies providing services based on global system for mobile communications.
The company had added 7.39 million mobile users and 7.50 million users overall in June quarter. It added 6.17 million mobile and 6.30 million overall subscribers in the September quarter last year. Besides mobile, Bharti Airtel also provides fixed line and direct-to-home services to retail customers.
The company also suffered a small forex loss due to the depreciating rupee. A senior IT analyst from Khandwala Securities attributed the loss mainly to the fact that the company imports “a large part of its equipment.”
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