Bharti Airtel Q1 FY25 results: Profit rises 158% on new 4G, 5G users

Telecom major Bharti Airtel reported a sharp 158 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) jump in net profit — attributable to owners — for the first quarter of financial year 2024-25. This comes amid greater focus on cost efficiencies, rising number of 4G and 5G users, and continued growth in the Wi-Fi category.

Beating industry estimates, the telco’s net profit for Q1FY25 reached Rs 4,159 crore, up from Rs 1,612 crore in the year-ago period. Sequentially, the profit more than doubled. It was Rs 2,071 crore in the previous quarter.

While strong 4G and 5G customer additions continued, the consolidated revenue from operations came in at Rs 38,506.4 crore in Q1, inching up by 2.84 per cent Y-o-Y. Other income in the quarter under review stood at Rs 363.5 crore. While revenues of its group subsidiaries continued to be impacted by the devaluation of African currencies, particularly the Nigerian Naira, the situation has eased in Airtel's favour.

Airtel made a Rs 47.7 crore profit in Q1 as a result of foreign currency translation differences, as compared to a major 4,681 crore loss in the year ago period.

The firm’s average revenue per user (Arpu) rose 5.5 per cent Y-o-Y to Rs 211 from Rs 200 in Q1FY24. However, it rose only marginally from Rs 209 in the preceding quarter. Airtel’s Arpu is the highest in the industry, beating Jio’s Rs 181.7 and Vodafone Idea’s Rs 146. Bharti Airtel’s revenue from the India business for Q1FY25 was Rs 29,046 crore, up 10.1 per cent Y-o-Y.

Mobile services in India, which account for a significant portion of the revenue, at Rs 22,527 crore, grew at 10.5 per cent, up from Rs 20,392 crore in Q1FY24.

The telco’s consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) during the quarter were Rs 19,944 crore, while the Ebitda margin was 51.8 per cent. The India business posted an Ebitda of Rs 15,599 crore, with a margin of 53.7 per cent.

“Our stringent focus on driving cost efficiencies is reflected in strong operating leverage. Africa continues to deliver strong underlying constant currency revenue growth. India operations added 6.7 million smartphone customers and reported an improved Arpu of Rs 211,” said Managing Director Gopal Vittal.

Airtel’s home business added 348,000 new users in Q1, leading to a total base of 8 million users. A major bet for the telco, the homes business, saw a 17.6 per cent growth. “Our WiFi services are now available in over 1300 cities,” Vittal said.

On a consolidated basis, 4G/5G data customers were up by 29.7 million, now making up 73 per cent of the overall mobile customer base. The growth was slightly lower than the preceding quarter’s 28.6 million additions.

The net addition in the premier postpaid segment stood at 0.8 million subscribers in the latest quarter, same as the preceding quarter. Growth had been higher earlier, at 0.9 million and 1 million subscribers in Q3 and Q2, respectively, of FY24.

Total number of postpaid users stood at 24 million.

On a consolidated basis, 4G/5G data customers were up by 29.7 million, now making up 73 per cent of the overall mobile customer base. The growth was slightly lower than the preceding quarter’s 28.6 million additions.

Mobile data consumption increased by 26 per cent annually, with consumption per customer rising to 23.7 GB per month in India.

Airtel rolled out 6,300 new towers and 15,500 mobile broadband stations over the quarter to further strengthen network coverage.

Airtel’s market share in the smartphone segment saw sustained improvement with addition of 29.7 million, an increase of 12.9 per cent Y-o-Y, the company said.