Bharti Airtel Q1 net profit reduces by 37 percent

Telecom giant Bharti Airtel on Wednesday declared a 37 percent decline in net profit at Rs.762 crore for the quarter ended June 30 against Rs.1,215 crore during the same period of the previous financial year.

Though the total revenue of the company increased by 14 percent to Rs.19,350 crore during the quarter under review as compared to 16,975 crore during the last year, the company said in a statement.

Airtel said mobile revenues in India were affected mainly due two significant changes -- the sector regulator TRAI's guidelines around processing fees that restricted the telecom operators from selling "combo packs" and the second is the hike of service tax from 10.3 percent to 12.36 percent.

The hike that was effective from April 1, 2012, resulted all telecom services to become dearer by nearly 2 percent with the entire additional levy being passed through to the exchequer, it said.

Africa revenues grew by 31.5 percent, due to the strong operational performance in the last year supported by favourable currency movements.

However, the economic and currency headwinds are currently evident in key markets, due to the ongoing eurozone crisis, lower aid and grants, rising inflation and political issues in some countries.

"Telecom revenues in India have been depressed due to hyper-competition and recent regulatory and tax developments. I am happy to note that despite these adverse developments, Airtel has kept its focus on network expansion, market investments, superior customer experience and new product innovations," said Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman and managing director, Bharti Airtel.

"I am also pleased to see that India data pick-up is accelerating with over 38 million customers and mobile data revenues up 44 percent. On the African side, we are gaining market share, benefiting from the significant investments made in the last two years," he added.

The company mentioned its overall customer base stood at Rs.260.7 million across 20 countries.

At the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the company shares were 2.52 percent down at Rs.286.40.

-With inputs from IANS