Listen

4:07

Bharti Airtel Ltd., India’s second-largest wireless operator, posted a lower-than-expected quarterly profit squeezed by a one-time charge and slowdown in revenues from Africa.

Net income at billionaire Sunil Mittal-led carrier fell 38% to 13.4 billion rupees ($161 million) for the quarter ended Sep. 30, according to an exchange filing Tuesday. That was less than halfBloomberg Terminal of the average 32.05-billion-rupee profit estimated by analysts in a Bloomberg survey.

Bharti took a one-time loss of 15.7 billion rupees, bulk of it due to a recent court order by India’s Supreme Court that tweaked the accounting treatment of license fee payable to the government thereby increasing the payout for wireless operators. The exceptional item also includes a 2.2-billion-rupee charge on re-assessment of regulatory levies.

Revenue also missed estimates. It rose 7.3% to 370.4 billion rupees compared with the same period last year. While India mobile services revenue rose 10%, similar revenue from Africa slipped 1.6%. Total costs advanced 3.5% to 175.3 billion rupees.

“Our India revenue continues to gain momentum and grew sequentially by 2.4%. Our consolidated revenue, however, was impacted by the devaluation of the Nigerian Naira,” Managing Director Gopal Vittal said in the statement. Bharti added 7.7 million 4G/5G users in the latest quarter versus the preceding quarter, he added.

KEY INSIGHTS
MARKET REACTION
GET MORE
(Updates with details throughout.)

Loading...

Bharti Airtel Misses Profit Estimate Hurt by A One-Time Charge

Bharti Airtel Ltd., India's second-largest wireless operator, reported a lower-than-expected quarterly profit due to a one-time charge and a slowdown in revenues from Africa. Net income fell 38% to 13.4 billion rupees ($161 million) for the quarter ended September 30, 2023.