Bharti airtel reported fourth-quarter revenues of USD 3.64 billion, up 51.3 percent from a year earlier thanks to its takeover of Zain's African operations. Revenues for the quarter to 31 March at its existing India and South Asia operations were up 12.7 percent year-on-year, and the African operations contributed sales of USD 924 million, up from USD 911 million in the three months to December. EBITDA improved 33.5 percent year-on-year to USD 1.22 billion, while net profit was down 31 percent to USD 289 million. Bharti airtel had a total 211.92 million mobile customers at the end of March, up 6 percent from the end of December and 61 percent more than a year earlier. In Africa, the customer base was up 5 percent in the quarter to 44.206 million, and in India and South Asia, the mobile customer base grew by 6 percent to 167.713 million. ARPU in Africa dipped to USD 7.2 from USD 7.3 in the previous quarter, while mobile ARPU in India fell 2 percent over the same period to INR 194. The operator also had 3.296 million customers for internet and fixed-line services, up 1 percent from December, and 5.663 million TV subscribers, up 15 percent from the previous quarter. Total traffic on the Airtel networks rose 6 percent from fiscal Q3 to 240.2 billion minutes. The company increased capex to USD 1.075 billion from USD 411 million a year earlier as it rolled out 3G in India and upgraded its networks in Africa, resulting in free cash flow dropping to USD 145 million from USD 493 million.
