Bharti Airtel (Airtel) on Tuesday reported a consolidated net profit of ₹1,134 crore for the second quarter ended September as compared to a net loss of ₹783 crore in the corresponding period last year.

Consolidated total revenue grew by 13 per cent year-on-year (YoY) at ₹28,326 crore during the July-September quarter as against ₹25,060 crore in the same period last year.

“We continue to maintain high degree of financial flexibility. As a result, we have now achieved nil bank debt for our India businesses. We will continue to evaluate all options to maintain comfortable leverage profile and manage associated costs. During the quarter gone by, we sustained our operational excellence with a healthy 5.5 per cent sequential growth in consolidated revenues and expansion of EBITDA margin to 49.5 per cent,” Gopal Vittal, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, India & South Asia, said.

He said the company’s focus on quality customers has been validated by the strong price flow and average revenue per user (ARPU) increase in the wireless business.

“The step up in performance of our enterprise and homes business reflects the resilience and strength of our overall portfolio. Even more exciting is the way our new businesses – Airtel Payments Bank, Data Centres and revenues from digital services are shaping up. With a future proofed 5G network, we are well positioned to build a strong Airtel of the future,” Vittal added.

India revenue for the second quarter was recorded at ₹19,890 crore, increased by 18.3 per cent YoY on a comparable basis and 10.4 per cent YoY on a reported basis. Mobile revenues grew by 20.3 per cent YoY on a comparable basis because of an increase in ARPU and strong 4G customer addition, the company said.

ARPU for the quarter came in at ₹153 compared to ₹143 in the second quarter last year. The company continues to gain a strong share of the 4G customers in the market, and 4G data customers increased by 26.1 per cent YoY to 192.5 million, it said.

Over the last four quarters, the company has added 39.9 million 4G customers to its network, and ARPU continues to be the best in the industry. Average data usage per data customer was 18.6 Gbs/month and voice usage per customer at 1,053 minutes/month, Airtel added.

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