In the September quarter, Bharti Airtel lost 2.5 million to 3 million customers in Jammu and Kashmir, CEO Gopal Vittal revealed. "Our overall subscriber base number was also impacted due to shutdown of mobile services in Jammu and Kashmir during this quarter," CFO Badal Bagri said. He added that the company's revenue from mobile services would have been higher, if not for the shutdown in Jammu and Kashmir. While the company's total customer base improved marginally from 301.4 million Q1FY20 to 304.7 million this quarter, Vittal said that Airtel acquired 6.5 million to 7 million customers from Tata Teleservices following their merger. Vittal and Bagri’s remarks were made during a call with the investors on October 30, after the company posted a loss of Rs 23,045 crore in the September quarter — this was the company’s second quarterly loss in 14 years. At the time, the company said that the Supreme Court’s ruling on adjusted gross revenue (AGR) had “significant financial implications on the company”. Disappointed by SC's AGR verdict: “We were disappointed by the [AGR] verdict of the Honourable Supreme Court,” said Bagri. He added that the SC’s verdict had “come at a time when the sector is facing severe financial stress, and may further weaken the viability of the sector as a whole”. Bagri said that Airtel is hopeful that the government will take a balanced approach on the AGR matter to ensure the long-term viability of the sector. What was SC’s verdict on AGR? Last month, the apex…
