Bharti Airtel (NSE:BHARTIARTL, BOM:532454) reported a 37.3% year-over-year increase in consolidated net profit in the fiscal first quarter to 81.7 billion rupees from 59.5 billion rupees a year earlier.
Earnings per share in the three months ended June 30 climbed to 13.37 rupees from 9.90 rupees, the Indian telecommunications company said in its earnings release on Tuesday.
Revenue from operations rose 18.3% year over year to 585.4 billion rupees from 494.6 billion rupees last year, boosted by growth across its India and Africa operations.
The company's India business segment reported a 9.7% rise in revenue to 412.1 billion rupees, which the company attributed to sustained portfolio premiumization in its Mobile unit and strong momentum in its Homes and Airtel business.
Mobile revenue at home also edged up 9.2% year over year, boosted by improved average revenue per user (ARPU) and strong gains in smartphone data customers. ARPU climbed to 264 rupees in the fiscal first quarter from 250 rupees a year earlier.
Airtel noted that its total customer base expanded 12.5% to 680.9 million across 15 countries. Its Africa business alone recorded an 11.6% jump in total customers to 189 million.
In June, Airtel raised its stake in Airtel Africa by 16.3% to 79% through a share-swap agreement estimated to be worth 282 billion rupees.
"This is a strong reflection of our conviction in Africa's long-term growth potential and the significant opportunities across our businesses," Bharti Airtel Vice Chairman Gopal Vittal said in the earnings release.
Also during the quarter, the company launched Airtel Secure Workforce, which it describes as India's "first, fully-managed and unified" Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) security platform. The platform features an end-to-end, compliance-ready security stack for companies.
