Airtel Posts Highest Ever Revenues, Profit Of Rs 853 Crore; Earns Rs 166 From Every User

By Malvika Gurung Last updated Feb 4, 2021

Bharti Airtel reports an exceptional profit of Rs 853.6 crore in the 3rd quarter of FY21.

Private telecom giant Bharti Airtel has reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 853.6 crore for the quarter ended December 2020, on February 3.

This comes after the company reported losses in all the previous quarters of FY21, majorly due to AGR provisions.

The company reported its highest ever consolidated revenue from operations, which is Rs 26,517,8 crore in Q3FY21, up by 5.8% sequentially and 24.2% y-o-y.

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Airtel’s Exceptional Gain of Rs 4,559.9 Cr

Bharti Airtel, on February 3 reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 853.6 crore for Q3, ending December 2020.

This consolidated profit was driven mainly by an extraordinary profit number of Rs 4,559.9 crore. The net loss recorded stood at Rs 298 crore for the quarter.

According to Moneycontrol, the highlighted gain registered by the company in Q3 FY21 was due to:

charge on account of re-assessment of contractual / regulatory levies and taxes of Rs 3,159.6 crore,
charge on account of reassessment of the useful life of certain categories of network assets due to technological advancements and impairment of intangible assets of Rs 1,419.5 crore, and
net credit on account of settlement with a customer and other charges for related entities Rs 19.2 crore.

Airtel Registers Heavy Losses in All Previous Quarters of FY21

The consolidated net profit registered by Airtel in Q3 of the current financial year, comes after reporting losses in every preceding quarter of the year.

In the quarter ending September 2020, the company witnessed a loss of Rs 763.2 crore.

Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO, India & South Asia says,

“Despite the unprecedented volatility that we have confronted through the year, we delivered another strong performance this quarter.

This consistency in performance was across every part of our portfolio, as reflected in market share growth across all business segments.”

He added that Q3 saw an addition of about 1.3 crore new 4G customers in its wireless business, resulting in a revenue growth of about 25% in Q3 FY21, compared to the same period last year.

Growth Data for Airtel Shows Uptick in Africa

Bharti Airtel has reported an increase in customer base and revenue not just in India but in Africa too.

Here are the reports for the African circle.

Customer base increased by 2.2% sequentially and 11% YoY to 11.89 crore in Q3FY21.
Africa business reported revenue at Rs 7,644.2 crore with EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) Rs 3,585.2 crore in Q3FY21.

All the Upticks Reported by Airtel for Q3

ARPU (average revenue per user) increased by 2.4% in Q3 FY21, as compared to the same period last year, to Rs 166 from Rs 162.
The revenue per tower per month increased to Rs 2,43,395, by 4.4% QoQ.
The consolidated customer base increased by 4.1% in Q3FY21 to over 45.79 crore, compared to 43.98 crore users at the end of previous quarter (Q2FY21).
Total minutes on the network increased by 7.1% in Q3FY21, to 1,01,934.2 crore minutes, compared to 95,159.7 crore minutes in the September quarter.
Indian customer base grew by 4.9% QoQ and 8.9% YoY to 33.62 crore in Q3FY21.
Airtel business showcased a revenue of Rs 3,621.4 crore with EBITDA at Rs 1,401.8 crore in Q3FY21.
Total MBs on Airtel’s network increased by 10.7% sequentially to 8,45,370.6 crore MBs.
Data usage per customer increased to 16,766 MBs, by 2.2% QoQ.