Bharti Airtel beats Q1 revenue view on subscriber growth, tariff hikes

Indian telecom major Bharti Airtel reported a bigger-than-expected first-quarter revenue on Thursday, helped by the steady addition of 4G subscribers and tariff hikes.

Consolidated revenue from operations rose 14.1 per cent to 374.40 billion rupees ($4.53 billion) for the quarter ended June 30, the company said in a filing.

Analysts, on average, had expected revenue of 366.24 billion rupees, according to Refinitiv IBES data.

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Airtel's average revenue per user (ARPU), a key metric for telecommunication companies, rose over 9 per cent year-on-year to 200 rupees, up 3.6 per cent from its previous quarter, thanks to its much-anticipated tariff hikes.

The company also added 5.6 million 4G subscribers during the quarter, with its total 4G customer count growing 2.5 per cent from the previous quarter and 11.9 per cent from a year ago to 229.7 million.

Market leader Reliance Jio, the telecommunication arm of conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd, said last month its ARPU grew 2.8 per cent year-on-year to 180.5 rupees.

It posted its slowest revenue and profit growth in six quarters due to stagnant tariff prices, Jio added.

Indian telecom companies had been recording slower-than-expected revenue growth in recent quarters, groaning under the load of massive 5G spectrum spends.

Airtel shares ended 0.7 per cent lower ahead of the results. They have risen over 8 per cent so far this year.

($1 = 82.6960 Indian rupees)