BHARTI Airtel reported an over two-fold rise in its second-quarter profit on Monday (Oct 28), as the telecom operator’s first tariff hike in over two years boosted its revenue per user.
India’s No 2 wireless carrier’s consolidated net profit jumped 168 per cent to 35.93 billion rupees (S$564.9 million) in the July-to-September quarter.
Bharti Airtel had a one-time loss of 8.54 billion rupees during the quarter resulting from a unit’s foreign exchange loss due to currency devaluation.
The company’s average revenue per user (ARPU), a key performance metric for telecom firms, where Airtel leads its rivals by a wide margin, rose 10 per cent sequentially to 233 rupees.
This is higher than Reliance Industries-owned Jio’s 195.1 rupees for the same period.
All three Indian mobile carriers-Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea- increased their tariffs in June for the first time in nearly three years, aiming to recoup billions invested in 5G technology.
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While the companies had not raised tariffs since 2021, they spent heavily on boosting their infrastructure and are now moving away from aggressive competition for market share towards increasing profitability.
Earlier this month, Jio posted a 23 per cent jump in profit driven by the rate hikes, while Vodafone Idea is yet to post results.
Bharti Airtel’s user base fell 0.7 per cent sequentially to 407 million as of Sep 30, hurt by users switching to cheaper alternatives after the tariff hike.
Its revenue rose about 12 per cent to 414.73 billion rupees and total expenses also grew 12 per cent in the second-quarter.
The company also appointed its current chief operation officer Shashwat Sharma as its CEO, effective Jan 1, 2026.
Shares of Bharti Airtel closed flat ahead of results. REUTERS
