Bharti Airtel reported revenues for its fiscal second quarter to September up 17.4 percent from a year earlier, to INR 202.73 billion. Growth was led by its African activities, which increased sales 6 percent to USD 1.1 billion, while mobile service revenues in India and south Asia rose 14 percent to INR 111.17 billion, thanks to strong demand for mobile broadband. In Africa, the subscriber base rose 5.0 percent over the three months to 58.67 million at the end of September, while mobile customers in India and south Asia were down 0.5 percent over the same period to 193.16 million. Digital TV revenues were also up 26 percent to INR 3.94 billion, Airtel Business grew sales 26 percent to INR 13.93 billion, and the towers business contributed INR 25.57 billion in revenues, up 8 percent from a year ago. Group EBITDA was less strong, rising just 9.2 percent to INR 63.5 billion, while net profit fell 29.8 percent from a year ago to INR 7.2 billion, hurt by higher costs for network investment. Capex fell to INR 40.55 billion from INR 47.29 billion a year earlier, helping operating free cash flow more than double to INR 22.96 billion.
