Bharti Airtel recorded double-digit growth in its India mobile business in fiscal Q4 2024 (ending 31 March), driven by 4G and 5G customer additions and rising ARPU, but its net profit tumbled on one-off charges. 

MD Gopal Vittal stated the company ended the year on a strong note with consistent performance across all businesses but highlighted the need for tariff increases.

Vittal said due to “the absence of tariff repair in the industry”, its return on capital employed continues to remain low.

Net profit dropped 31.1 per cent year-on-year to INR20.7 billion ($247.9 million) due to INR8.7 billion in exceptional items, mostly forex losses. Total revenue increased 4.4 per cent to INR375.9 billion.

In India, revenue grew 12.9 per cent to INR285.1 billion, ARPU 8 per cent to INR209 and mobile subscribers 5 per cent to 352.3 million.

Its post-paid segment grew 17.5 per cent to 23.1 million.

Average monthly data usage increased 11.5 per cent to INR22.6GB.

The operator stated 74 per cent of subscribers are on 4G and 5G plans.

Revenue in Africa rose 23 per cent to $1.4 billion, supported by 9 per cent subscriber growth to 152.7 million and an 11.1 per cent increase in ARPU to $2.60.

Data consumption per subscriber increased 25 per cent to 5.7GB.

Airtel Mobile Money revenue rose 35.5 per cent to $232 million, with active users increasing 20.7 per cent to 38 million and ARPU up 12.5 per cent to $2.10.

B2B service revenue increased 14 per cent to INR54.6 billion.

Full-year capex rose 15.5 per cent to INR394.8 billion. It added nearly 99,500 base stations to end March with more than 930,000.