Indian operator Bharti Airtel reported a continued increase in sales and profits for its fiscal second quarter, driven by strong demand for mobile data services. Revenues rose 4 percent year-on-year to INR 238.36 billion, led by a 49.8 percent increase in mobile data service revenue to INR 38.06 billion. EBITDA was up 7 percent to INR 82.65 billion, helping the margin expand to 34.7 percent from 33.9 a year ago. Despite a doubling in financing costs, the profit from the sale of towers infrastructure helped the company still post a 10 percent rise in net profit to INR 15.23 billion. Capital expenditure jumped 35 percent to INR 50.34 billion on the expansion of 3G and 4G networks, leading to a 20 percent drop in operating cash flow to INR 32.31 billion.
In its home market India, Airtel grew mobile revenues 8 percent to INR 136.56 billion, and EBITDA rose 13 percent to INR 52.68 billion. Capex doubled year-on-year to INR 31.02 billion, as Airtel added over 24,000 3G sites in the past year, including 9,500 in the latest quarter alone. Airtel also offered 4G services in 334 towns across India at the end of the quarter.
The mobile customer base in India was up by 2 percent compared to June and 11 percent higher year-on-year at 235.21 million at the end of September, while ARPU was down 3 percent over both periods to INR 193. Over 51 million customers were using data services, including almost 24 million on the 3G network. Data traffic was up 70 percent year-on-year and 13 percent from the previous quarter to just under 115 billion MB, giving an average 765 MB per customer. Data accounted in total for 21.5 percent of service revenue in the quarter, compared to 14.5 percent a year ago.
in Africa, Airtel posted revenues up 4 percent at constant currency rates to USD 1.02 billion, while EBITDA was down 7 percent to INR 206 million. After adjusting for the sale of tower assets, revenues were up 4.1 percent, the highest growth rate in a year. Capex was reduced to USD 162 million in the quarter and focused mainly on improving data capabilities.
The African customer base was still up 3 percent from June and 13 percent higher year-on-year at 80.84 million at the end of September. Churn increased slightly from the previous quarter to 5.8 percent, while ARPU was stable at USD 4.3. Voice traffic showed a strong increase of 20 percent year-on-year, and data traffic was up 104 percent over the same period. This led to an increase in average usage per customer to 145 minutes and 403 MB. Airtel also reported 8.4 million mobile money customers at the end of the period, an increase of 59 percent form a year earlier. Transactions over Airtel Money were up 84 percent to over 241 million in the quarter.
