Bharti Airtel Q2 net profit fall 64% at Rs 586.10 cr as price war continues

The country's largest telecom operator, Bharti Airtel, on Tuesday reported a 63 percent fall in net profit for the September quarter on year-on-year (YoY) basis.

The company net profit declined to Rs 586.1 crore from Rs 1,615.10 crore profit in the corresponding quarter last year. On sequential basis, profit fell 5.11 percent sequentially, the company said in an exchange filing.

The company's weak result is primarily because of intense competition led by Reliance Jio Infocomm and low tariffs war which is continuing in the sector.

"The financial stress in the industry continues due to double digit revenue decline and will be further accentuated by the reduction in IUC rates in the next quarter. This will eventually force operator consolidation and exits as we have witnessed in the recent past," said Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO of Bharti Airtel.

Average revenue per user (ARPU) during the quarter stood at Rs 154 which was lower than Rs 188 during the corresponding quarter year ago. However, consolidated mobile data traffic came in at 853 million MBs for the quarter, up 293.8 percent on year-on-year basis.

"Airtel remains committed to its goal of increasing revenue market share in this competitive environment by providing superior customer experience and strategically investing behind building more data capacities," Vittal added.

The company's revenue fell marginally to Rs 21,780. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 17.4 percent to Rs 7,922 crore, while EBITDA margin contracted to 36.4 percent from 30.72 percent in the previous quarter, the company said.