Bharti Airtel reported revenues for its fiscal first quarter up 13.3 percent year-on-year to INR 229.6 billion. The growth was driven by a 74 percent increase in mobile data revenues to INR 22.0 billion, as well as a 9.1 percent rise in the number of customers to hit the 300 million mark.
EBITDA for the three months to June rose 18.0 percent from a year earlier to INR 77.2 billion, giving a margin of 33.6 percent, up from 32.3 a year ago. A drop in financing costs helped net profit jump 61 percent to INR 11.1 billion. Airtel increased capital expenditure 74 percent to INR 39.9 billion, driven by the 3G roll-out in India. As a result, operating cash flow fell 12 percent to INR 37.3 billion.
Airtel reported mobile revenues in its home market India up 10 percent to INR 127.5 billion, while EBITDA rose 25 percent to INR 47.1 billion. Capex tripled year-on-year to INR 22.9 billion as it expanded 3G coverage, with over 3,200 3G sites added in the quarter for a total 34,564 at the end of June.
The number of customers in India rose 10 percent year-on-year and 2 percent from March to 209.41 million at the end of June. Quarterly mobile voice traffic rose a slower 5 percent year-on-year. ARPU improved 3 percent on a sequential basis to INR 202, helped by a 2 percent rise in the average price per minute. Airtel also added 2.3 million 3G users in the quarter, for a total 12.54 million, and total data traffic was up 17 percent sequentially and 96 percent year-on-year to 55.6 billion MB.
Elsewhere in south Asia, revenues rose 12 percent to INR 4.4 billion and EBITDA increased 42 percent to INR 233 million. Only 32,000 customers were added during the quarter, for a total 8.65 million at the end of June.
In Africa, the operator grew revenues 17 percent to INR 69.7 billion, and EBITDA rose 7 percent to INR 17.0 billion. The number of customers fell by 357,000 compared to March to 69.09 million, mainly due to a temporary sales ban in Nigeria. ARPU was up 1 percent over the same period to USD 5.6. Voice traffic and pricing were little changed in the quarter, but data traffic was up 7 percent sequentially to 6.54 billion MB. Just over 34 percent of customers used data services. Airtel added 242 3G sites in Africa in the quarter, for a total 7,165 at the end of June. Airtel Money users were more than three times higher than a year ago, at 4.3 million at the end of June, and the value of transactions over the platform rose to USD 2.2 billion from USD 448 million a year ago.
