By Joseph Waring
Bharti Airtel bosses highlighted a solid close to its fiscal 2022, after reporting gains in subscriber numbers and ARPU across all markets in the final quarter of the year (to end-March).
In its earnings release, MD and CEO for India and South Asia Gopal Vittal explained Airtel is optimistic about future opportunities given its investments in infrastructure and digital capabilities, along with overall financial prudence.
Gopal added fiscal Q4 capped “a full year of consistent and competitive performance across our portfolio”.
Net profit jumped 164 per cent year-on-year to INR20.1 billion (US$259.1 million), due in part to exceptional gains of INR9.9 billion, including the sale of tower assets. Total revenue increased 22.3 per cent to INR315 billion.
Service revenue in India grew 25.1 per cent to INR176.2 billion, driven by a 22.8 per cent increase in mobile ARPU to INR178.
Airtel’s LTE user base rose 12 per cent to 201 million, accounting for nearly 62 per cent of its 326 million subscribers, which increased 1.5 per cent.
Average data consumption per user rose 14.2 per cent to 19.2GB per month.
It deployed more than 145,000 broadband base stations in the year to end-March, taking its total to around 752,000.
Africa revenue increased 19.1 per cent to $1.2 billion, as ARPU rose 10.7 per cent to US$3.20 and its user base rose 8.7 per cent to 128.4 million.
Monthly data usage was up 28.3 per cent to 3.7GB.
Mobile Money revenue grew 29 per cent to US$141 million, with active customers up 20.7 per cent to 26.2 million.
Airtel Business revenue rose 12.9 per cent to INR41.8 billion.
Capex for the full fiscal year was 6 per cent higher at INR256.6 billion.
