Bharti Airtel, India's biggest mobile phone carrier by subscribers has reported 5.4 per cent dip in sequential net profit for the second quarter ending September 2012. This is the 11th consecutive quarter of profit decline for Bharti as costs increased and intense competition pressured margins.
Bharti said net profit for the July to September quarter fell to Rs 721 crore against Rs 762 crore in the previous quarter. On an annual basis, consolidated net profit fell 29.8 percent from Rs 1,027 crore a year earlier. A brokers' poll conducted by NDTV estimated profits to rise to Rs 809 crore.
Despite profit dip, Bharti managed to exceed margin estimates, which came in at 31.3 per cent against expectations of 30.5 per cent. Consolidated sales rose 17.4 per cent year-on-year to Rs 20,273 crore, higher than estimates of Rs 19,601 crore. Bharti had reported Rs 19,350 crore in sales in the June quarter.
Bharti's monthly average revenue per user, a key metric for telecommunications carriers, fell 4 per cent from the previous quarter to Rs 177 for its Indian operations. In Africa, ARPU fell 2 per cent sequentially to $6.4.
Shares in Bharti, valued at about $19 billion, are down nearly 20 percent so far this year compared with a 22 percent rise in the benchmark index. The shares were trading down 0.2 per cent on Wednesday, reversing early gains.
Bharti in 2010 ventured into Africa at a time when growth in its home market had started showing signs of saturation. The company, which bought money-losing operations in 15 African countries for $9 billion, has yet to turn a profit there.
Bharti, nearly a third owned by Southeast Asia's top phone carrier, Singapore Telecommunications Ltd, operates in 20 countries across Asia and Africa and is the world's fourth-biggest mobile phone carrier by customers.
The leading carriers, however, face the risk of paying out billions of dollars in regulatory fees over the next few years with the government planning to impose a surcharge on airwaves held by them and also reallocation, or switching, of their superior quality spectrum when their permits are renewed.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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