Bharti Airtel’s First Ever Fall In Revenue

Bharti Airtel Ltd. is feeling the heat after Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd.’s big-bang entry into the Indian telecom space.

Revenue growth of the country’s largest telecom operator had been fluctuating, but stayed in the positive zone till the quarter ended September 2016. However, in the third quarter of financial year 2016-17, the revenue fell 3 percent over the previous year – the first such decline since the company’s 2002 listing.

Bharti Airtel attributed the fall to the demonetisation and tariff cuts triggered by free services offered by its newest rival Reliance Jio. Airtel’s net profit also declined 55 percent due to a rise in finance costs.