Bharti Airtel posts net loss of Rs 2,866 crore in Q1

Bharti Airtel Q1 Results 2019: The country's third largest telecom operator slipped into red, incurring net losses of Rs 2,866 crore for the first quarter of 2019-20, impacted by a continuing tariff war with Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio.

"The company had reported consolidated net profit of Rs 97.30 crore in the corresponding period of fiscal 2018-19 and Rs 107.2 crore in the previous quarter," Bharti Airtel said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Consolidated revenue from operations rose by 5 per cent to Rs 20,737.90 crore in Q1FY20 as against Rs 19,799.20 crore in Q1FY19.

Indian mobile services revenue grew by 3 per cent to Rs 15,344.60 crore during the quarter as compared with Rs 14,930 crore in the first quarter previous year. The mobile average revenue per user stood at Rs 129 as compared to Rs 123 in March quarter and Rs 105 in the same quarter last year. However, its monthly churn rate in mobile services business, a measure of the number of customers it lost, grew to 2.6 per cent against 2 per cent in the year ago period.

Last week, rival Vodafone Idea reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 4,873.9 crore during the first quarter ended June 30, 2019.

Also Read: Vodafone Idea Q1 loss narrows marginally to Rs 4,873.9 crore, revenue declines on subscriber loss

In contrast, Reliance Jio generated its seventh straight profitable quarter, with a net profit of Rs 891 crore for the June quarter, compared with Rs 840 crore in the January-March period, helped by strong user additions and increase in data usage.

These results indicate that telecom sector is still under pressure due to aggressive tariff war, declining profitability and high debt, despite higher data and voice consumption, over the last few years following the entry of Reliance Jio.

The Sunil Bharti Mittal-led telecom firm posted 24 per cent growth in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) at Rs 8,492.60 crore versus Rs 6,837 crore in the same quarter last year. EBITDA margin expanded to 41 per cent from 34.5 per cent in the same quarter last fiscal.

Also Read: Reliance Jio Q1 net profit rises 45.6% to Rs 891 crore, wait for JioGigaFiber continues

In Q1FY20, the company's financial cost jumped 50 per cent to Rs 3,181.50 crore versus Rs 2,126.50 crore in Q1FY19, Bharti Mittal said in the exchange filing.

On a standalone basis, Airtel reported a loss of Rs 1,303.70 crore against total revenue of Rs 12,910 crore during June quarter.

As of June 30, 2019, Bharti Airtel has a net debt of Rs 1,690 against Rs 1,633.9 crore in March quarter and Rs 1,576.1 crore in the year ago period. The company had 40.37 crore customers, a decrease of 10.9 per cent as compared to 45.66 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Ahead of Q1 earnings, Bharti Airtel shares closed 4.10 per cent lower at Rs 323.95 apiece on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Thursday.

Edited by Chitranjan Kumar