Bengaluru:
Indian telecom operator Bharti Airtel Ltd said on Tuesday that fourth-quarter profits were better than estimates and revenues were up 22.3%, boosted by a recent tariff hike.
Average revenue per user (ARPU) – a key performance indicator in the telecom industry – stood at Rs 178 for the quarter, up from Rs 145 from a year earlier. ARPU of rivals Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea for the same period was Rs 167.6 and Rs 124 respectively.
Airtel, India’s second largest airline, said in November when it announced fare hikes that its ARPU for mobile devices should be Rs 200 and eventually Rs 300 for a financially sound business model.
The company has raised funds to fund its digital ambitions, which include developing home broadband, data centers and cloud adoption, as it prepares to launch its next-generation 5G services in the country.
In January, it announced an investment of up to $1 billion from Google from Alphabet Inc.
Airtel said on Sunday it would set up its fourth digital technology hub in the country, as part of plans to expand its in-house digital engineering capabilities.
Consolidated net profit was Rs 2,008 crore for the quarter, up from Rs 759 crore a year earlier. Analysts had expected a profit of Rs 1,978 crore, according to data from Refinitiv IBES.
The company reported consolidated operating revenues of Rs 31,500 crore ($4.06 billion) for the quarter ended March 31, compared to Rs 25,747 crore in the same period last year, according to a regulatory filing.