Bharti's June qtr profit up 14%, Arpu rises 2%

Revenue misses Street estimate at ₹49,463 crore

- URVI MALVANIA

TELECOM MAJOR BHARTI Airtel on Tuesday reported a net profit of ₹5,948 crore in the quarter ending June 30, up 13.9% over the ₹5,223 crore reported in the January-March quarter.

The numbers were ahead of Bloomberg's estimate of ₹5,660 crore and were driven by an increase in the average revenue per user (Arpu) and more 5G subscribers.

Driven primarily by the Indian operations, the firm's consolidated revenue during the quarter stood at ₹49,463 crore, up 3.3% quarter-on-quarter and 28.5% year-on-year. However, this fell slightly short of estimates of ₹49,762 crore. Bharti's operating profit margin declined to 56.9%, compared to 57.2% in the previous quarter.