Bharti Airtel Q4 profit zooms to ₹2,008 cr on exceptional gains; revenue up 22.3%

Bharti Airtel, the second-biggest telecom operator in India in terms of market share, has recorded a consolidated net income of ₹2,008 crore for the January-March quarter, posting a growth of 164.46% compared to ₹759.2 crore profit in the same quarter last year. A major rise in net profit could be seen due to the net exceptional gain of ₹906 crore during the quarter ended March 31, 2022, says Airtel in an exchange filing.

Bharti Airtel's quarterly revenues stood at ₹31,500 crore, up 22.3% YoY, as compared to ₹25,747 crore during Q4 FY21. Its India business revenue grew 22.7% to ₹22,589 crore.

Consolidated EBITDA stood at ₹15,998 crore for the Jan-March quarter, compared to ₹12,583 crore during the same period last year. Airtel's EBITDA margin showed an improvement of 192 bps YoY to 50.8%. Consolidated EBIT was ₹7,315 crore during Q4 FY22, while EBIT margin improved by 362 bps YoY to 23.2%.

However, Airtel's consolidated net debt, excluding lease obligations, increased during the March quarter to ₹1.23 lakh crore from ₹1.1 lakh crore as of March 31, 2021. If lease obligations are included, the consolidated net debt stood at ₹1.6 lakh crore as of March 31, 2022.

The company had 32.6 crore customers as of March 31, 2022, compared to 32.1 crore in the corresponding quarter last year, an increase of 1.5% YoY. Airtel's mobile revenue for the quarter stood at ₹17,616.8 crore, up by 25.1%, compared to ₹14,079.8 crore in Q4 FY22.

Airtel's mobile ARPU increased to ₹178 in Q4’22 vs ₹145 in Q4’21, which led to mobile revenue growth of 25.1% YoY. The increase in ARPU came on the back of a healthy flow through tariff revision and strong 4G customer additions during the year, Airtel said.

The company said its total 4G customers also surpassed the +200 million mark towards the end of Q4’22. Over the last year, 21.5 million 4G customers were added to its network, a growth of 12% YoY. Its tower network also grew to 237,577 as of March 31, 2022, vs 216,901 in the corresponding quarter last year.

The exception gain comprises gain on the "account of the sale of telecommunication tower assets of ₹759 crore, gain on account of settlement with a strategic vendor of ₹ 992 crore, charges on account of provision of levies of ₹321 crore, charge on account of impairment of property, plant and equipment of ₹381 crore and charge on account of prepaying bonds of ₹142.8 crore".

Airtel also said its mobile data consumption during the said quarter was up by 28.7% YoY, and the consumption per customer stood at 18.8 GB per month.

As per the company, it paid ₹8,815 crore to the department of telecom towards part prepayment of deferred liabilities pertaining to spectrum acquired in the auction of the year 2015. "The prepayment is for instalments due in FY 2027 and FY 2028. Over the last few months, Airtel has cleared ₹24,334 crore of its deferred spectrum liabilities much ahead of scheduled maturities," says the company.

For the full fiscal year 2021-22, Airtel's revenue grew 20.2% to ₹1.1 lakh crore, while its profit before exceptional items was ₹4,255 crore as compared to the loss of ₹15,083 crore during the fiscal year ending March 31, 2021.

Ahead of its quarterly financial results, Airtel stock rose 1.79% to ₹750.60 on the National Stock Exchange. The stock is down 3.28% in the past month, in line with global market trends.