Q2 Update: Bharti Airtel’s ARPU Falls For The First Time In Four Quarters
Bharti Airtel, in an operational update, says revenue rose to Rs 10,981 crore in the September quarter but ARPU fell to Rs 128.
Bharti Airtel Ltd.’s revenue from its India mobile services rose in the quarter ended September even as its average revenue per user fell.
The telecom operator’s revenue rose 1.1 percent quarter-on-quarter to Rs 10,981 crore, it said in an operational update filed with the stock exchanges. Analyst estimates compiled by BloombergQuint had pegged the revenue at Rs 10,808 crore.
Airtel’s ARPU fell to Rs 128 in the second quarter from Rs 129 the April-June period. That compares with Rs 127 estimated by analysts.
Bharti Airtel’s subscriber base declined to 27.9 crore in July-September from over 28 crore in April-June. The operator has been deactivating low revenue generating users to focus on high-paying customers. Consequently, the 4G customer base for the operator increased to 10.3 crore from 9.5 crore in the last quarter.
The full audited second-quarter results, that were to be released today, have been deferred to Nov. 14 as the operator is seeking “more clarity” on Supreme Court's ruling on adjusted gross revenue for telecom companies.
On Oct. 25, the apex court held that India’s telecom operators will have to include non-core revenue to estimate levies, adding to the thousands of crores worth of dues and penalties already afflicting the industry. According to numbers filed with the court, the Sunil Mittal-led company will have to pay up Rs 21,682 crore.
On Tuesday, Airtel shares fell 3.41 percent to Rs 359.95 apiece on the BSE while the benchmark Sensex gained 1.48 percent to end the day at 39,831.84 points.