Bharti Airtel Q1 loss widens to Rs 15,933 crore

Telecom major Bharti Airtel on July 29 reported a consolidated loss of Rs 15,933.1 crore for the quarter-ended June, which widened considerably from Rs 5,237 crore in March quarter and Rs 2,866 crore in Q1 FY20.

The loss was much higher than the average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18, which had pegged it at Rs 500 crore in Q1 FY21.

The company said net loss (before exceptional items) stood at Rs 436 crore. “The net exceptional charge of Rs 11,745.7 crore during the quarter-ended June comprises of a charge on account of incremental provision and interest on licence fee and spectrum usage charges (adjusted for gross revenue provision) of Rs 10,744.4 crore and net charge pertaining to re-assessment of levies of Rs 1,001.3 crore,” it said.

Consolidated revenue from operations grew 0.9 percent sequentially to Rs 23,938.7 crore, which was slightly ahead of a CNBC-TV18 analysts poll of Rs 23,720 crore. On year-on-year basis, revenue growth stood at 15.4 percent.

Overall customer base stood at around 420 million across 16 countries at the end of June quarter, declining 0.8 percent compared to March quarter, while India’s subscriber base fell 1.3 percent sequentially to 305.69 million in Q1 FY21.

Operating performance was better than analysts’ expectations. The company reported earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) at Rs 10,639 crore, up 3 percent QoQ. EBITDA margin expanded 90 bps QoQ to 44.4 percent. A CNBC-TV18 poll had estimated EBITDA and EBITDA margin of Rs 10,170 crore and 42.9 percent, respectively

India revenue for Q1 FY21 stood at Rs 17,589 crore, up 14.6 percent YoY on a reported basis. Mobile revenue grew 18.5 percent YoY, with average revenue per user (ARPU) for the quarter rising to Rs 157 as compared to Rs 129 YoY and Rs 154 QoQ, led by full impact of our tariff hikes in the previous quarter alongside its continued focus on quality customers.

The management said digital TV revenue grew 9.3 percent YoY on the back of strong customer additions growth of 5.1 percent YoY to 16.8 million. “The rollout of new tariff order helped Airtel in improving its market share and revenue growth.”

During the quarter, Airtel and Carlyle entered into an agreement whereby Carlyle will acquire about 25 percent stake in Airtel’s Data Centre business at a valuation of $1.2 billion.

-MoneyControl