Airtel posts positive net profit of Rs 854 crore in Q3FY21, adds 42 million 4G customers

Key takeaways

• Airtel posted a positive net profit for the first time in several quarters, of Rs 854 crore.
• This comes on the back of good customer additions throughout the year, with customer base standing at 336 million in India.
• ARPU is up at Rs 166, and expected to grow further as the company seeks to get them to at least Rs 200 in the medium term.

Airtel posted a positive net profit of Rs 854 crore in Q3FY21, a first for the company in over a year. In the same quarter last year, the company’s net loss stood at Rs 1,035 crore. The “India business witnessed highest ever quarterly revenues of Rs 19,007 crore – up 25.1% YoY,” Airtel said in a press release.

• Net additions strong: The company’s rebound comes amid a higher surge in new customers. “4G data customers increased by 33.8% YoY to 165.6 Mn compared to the previous year. Over the last 4 quarters, the company has added ~42 Mn 4G customers to its network,” the company said. The company’s customer base now stands at ~336 million in India.
• ARPU up: Airtel’s ARPU is still low, as is the case with Vi and Jio. But the revenue per user is climbing as more users transition to 4G directly from 2G. Average Revenue Per User stood at Rs 166, compared to Rs 135 in the same quarter last year.
• Data usage up 52.9% YoY: As the company adds subscribers and moves more subscribers to 4G, the data usage has increased by over half. “Consolidated mobile data traffic [stood] at 8,191 petabytes,” the company said. 16.1GB of data was consumed per subscriber, with 1,027 minutes of call usage per subscriber. 18 million customers are using Voice over WiFi (VoWiFi) calling, the company said.
• Home broadband growth: Airtel had a modest 2.3% YoY growth in revenue for the quarter, and added around 215,000 users. The company now has 2,79 million home broadband users.

Financial snapshot — Q3FY21

• Revenue: Rs 26,518 crore (up 24.2% YoY)
• Net Profit: Rs 854 crore (as against Rs 1,035 crore in the same quarter in the previous FY)
• EBITDA: Rs 12,178 crore (up 38.2 crores)
• EBITDA Margin: 45.9% (up 464 basis points from last year)

Quarterly Report | Press Release