Fri, Jul 25 01:00 AM
The country's telecom sector continues to stay robust despite a slowing of the broader economy, according to indications from the first set of quarterly earnings that came on Thursday. Top mobile phone service provider Bharti Airtel said its net profit in the April-June quarter rose to Rs 2,025 crore, up 34 per cent from the same period a year ago.
Sales rose 44 per cent to Rs 8,483 crore. Idea Cellular, the fifth largest, said its profit in the April-June quarter dipped 15 per cent from a year ago, because of foreign exchange losses and a non-recurrent payment of licence fee.
Otherwise sales during the quarter rose 47.4 per cent to Rs 2,178 crore. In the three-months period, Bharti added 7.5 million customers, taking its subscriber base to 71.7 million, while Idea Cellular added 3.1 million subscribers at 27.2 million.
"The quarter saw robust growth as we achieved economies of scale but acknowledged that tariffs are under pressure," said Akhil Gupta, Bharti Airtel CFO and joint MD. "The low average revenue per user is not a matter of concern for the company. The engine of growth has been huge subscriber addition.
" Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman and managing director, Bharti Airtel said: "This clearly demonstrates that the Indian telecom growth story is intact and the rural markets are witnessing strong uptake." Bharti's share price closed at Rs 796, while Idea Cellular declined by 3.5 per cent to close at Rs 87.65.
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