Bharti Airtel's net profit falls in Q3: Things to know

Bharti Airtel's net profit in the December quarter fell 22.21 per cent as compared to the corresponding period a year ago, missing analyst expectations. Here are the things you need to know:

• Bharti Airtel's net profit in Q3 fell 22.21 per cent to Rs 1,117 crore from Rs 1,436 crore in year-ago period.
• Total revenue of the company Airtel rose 3.7 per cent to Rs 24,066 crore for December quarter as against Rs 23,217 crore in year-ago period.
• The country's largest telecom operator's Q3 earnings missed analyst estimates of achieving a net profit of Rs 1,264 crore in Q3.
• The fall in net profit is being accounted to increased finance costs on spectrum payouts and higher interest costs.
• Though the company's broadband sector remained strong, voice and data revenues were affected on account of competition from other telecom players.
• Bharti Airtel added 8.1 million mobile customers in the December quarter taking the total number of subscribers to 351 million across India, South Asia and Africa.
• The company's loss from its African business narrowed to $74 million from $136 million a year ago.
• Airtel MD and CEO (India & South Asia) Gopal Vittal said the company's 3G and 4G roll out has accelerated the data usage growth to 73.3 per cent with the ARPU (average revenue per user) for data reaching Rs 200.