Airtel’s Loss Down By 96% Due To Increase In Data Usage; Revenues Hits Record Rs 25,785 Crore In 90 Days

On Tuesday,  Bharti Airtel Ltd posted its biggest-ever quarterly consolidated revenue of Rs 257.85 billion.

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Airtel Makes A Significantly Less Loss; Growth in 4G Customer Base!

The Indian telecom operator’s quarterly consolidated revenue rose by 22%.

The average revenue per user (ARPU) at Bharati Airtel soared to Rs 162 for the quarter that ended on September 30, as opposed to Rs 128 the previous year.

4G data customers of India’s second-largest telecom operator increased from to 152.7 million for the Q2 of FY2020-2021.

The biggest news has to be that the consolidated loss for the second quarter of FY2020-2021 was just 7.63 billion rupees as opposed to last year’s loss of Rs 230.45 billion.

The Reason For Airtel’s Success!

In September, the Supreme Court allowed the telcos to pay their balance adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues over the next 10 years instead of 20 years as suggested by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). The SC expects an upfront payment of 10% of the dues is expected by March 31, 2021.

With the entry and success of Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio and the AGR dues, in December 2019, all Indian operators had hiked their prices. Vodafone Idea (VI) owes Rs 54,754 crore whereas Bharti Airtel has a debt of 25,976 crores in AGR dues.

The Indian telecom operator referred this profit to higher tariffs and a surge in data usage amidst the COVID-19 induced remote working. 

Earlier this month, Anupama Arora, vice president and sector head of Corporate Ratings at ICRA, said in the release, “While the industry still grapples with elevated debt levels and weak debt coverage metrics, the last fiscal has witnessed some respite in terms of steady ARPU improvement driven mainly by the tariff hikes implemented in December 2019, the deleveraging measures undertaken by the telcos, and moderation of capex intensity.”

Arora highlighted that the tariff hikes in December improved the industry revenues in the Q1 of the current financial year.

Although, recently, the Centre stopped all Govt employees from using Airtel, Jio, or Vi and imposed a compulsory usage of state-run BSNL and MTNL for their communication needs.