<p>Shares of Bharti Airtel Ltd surged 10% to a record high on Tuesday, as customers upgraded their data and calling plans and the Indian telecom operator raised mobile tariffs, helping boost average revenue per user.</p>.<p>The company's average revenue per user, a key metric for the telecom sector, rose 25% to 154 rupees at its India mobile services business during the quarter ended March 31.</p>.<p>"Bharti Airtel's strong data subscriber additions despite sharp tariff hikes reflect consumer acceptance of higher tariffs," Jefferies said in a note. "Moreover, its ability to add data subscribers should also support market share gains."</p>.<p>Airtel said it added 12.5 million 4G subscribers in the March quarter.</p>.<p>Indian telcos raised calling and data plan prices in the last few months after the country's Supreme Court upheld a demand by the telecoms department that wireless carriers pay 920 billion Indian rupees ($12.11 billion) in overdue levies and interest.</p>.<p>New-Delhi based Airtel said on Monday it set aside 56.42 billion rupees for one-time spectrum charges, resulting in a quarterly net loss of 52.37 billion rupees for the three months ended March 31, compared with a profit of 1.07 billion rupees a year earlier.</p>.<p>Total revenue, however, rose 15% to 237.23 billion rupees. Indians found themselves confined to their homes during the last week of March due to a nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus outbreak.</p>.<p>"We continue to witness strong data traffic growth of about 74.1% year-on-year," Chief Executive Officer Gopal Vittal said in a statement late on Monday.</p>.<p>Rival Reliance Jio Infocomm, controlled by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, reported a nearly three-fold rise in March quarter profit. </p>
<p>Shares of Bharti Airtel Ltd surged 10% to a record high on Tuesday, as customers upgraded their data and calling plans and the Indian telecom operator raised mobile tariffs, helping boost average revenue per user.</p>.<p>The company's average revenue per user, a key metric for the telecom sector, rose 25% to 154 rupees at its India mobile services business during the quarter ended March 31.</p>.<p>"Bharti Airtel's strong data subscriber additions despite sharp tariff hikes reflect consumer acceptance of higher tariffs," Jefferies said in a note. "Moreover, its ability to add data subscribers should also support market share gains."</p>.<p>Airtel said it added 12.5 million 4G subscribers in the March quarter.</p>.<p>Indian telcos raised calling and data plan prices in the last few months after the country's Supreme Court upheld a demand by the telecoms department that wireless carriers pay 920 billion Indian rupees ($12.11 billion) in overdue levies and interest.</p>.<p>New-Delhi based Airtel said on Monday it set aside 56.42 billion rupees for one-time spectrum charges, resulting in a quarterly net loss of 52.37 billion rupees for the three months ended March 31, compared with a profit of 1.07 billion rupees a year earlier.</p>.<p>Total revenue, however, rose 15% to 237.23 billion rupees. Indians found themselves confined to their homes during the last week of March due to a nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus outbreak.</p>.<p>"We continue to witness strong data traffic growth of about 74.1% year-on-year," Chief Executive Officer Gopal Vittal said in a statement late on Monday.</p>.<p>Rival Reliance Jio Infocomm, controlled by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, reported a nearly three-fold rise in March quarter profit. </p>