Leading telco Bharti Airtel on Wednesday reported a decline of 9.6 % in its Q1 net profit at Rs 688.9 crore. The 14th consecutive fall in quarterly profit is mainly due to rising costs and rupee depreciation.

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The company had reported a net profit of Rs 762.2 crore in the corresponding period last financial year.

It said that derivative and exchange fluctuation losses during the quarter were Rs 534 crore, mainly caused by the Rupee depreciation, compared to gains of Rs 160 crore in the same period last year, Consolidated tax charges at Rs 968 crore have increased from Rs 454 crore last year, mainly increasing in Africa. Consequently, the consolidated net income stands at Rs 689 crore, as against Rs 762 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Consolidated revenues at 20,264 crore grew by 9.2%, over the corresponding period last year, led by 10.9% growth in Mobile India, 34.0% in Digital TV, 17.9% in  Aairtel business? (B2B) and 37.1% in South Asia. Mobile Data continues its growth trajectory with revenue up Y-o-Y by 91.5% in India and 65.8% in Africa.

Net debt of Bharti Airtel was USD 9.8 billion as on June 2013. "Consequent to the additional equity infusion of Rs 6,796 crore by Qatar Foundation Endowment and after considering the full debt in the Qualcomm subsidiaries, the consolidated net debt has decreased by USD 908 million during the quarter to close at USD 9,779 million. The net debt to EBITDA ratio (USD terms) now stands at 2.21 as compared to 2.50 at the end of the previous quarter," Airtel said.

Africa business revenue dropped more than 5 percent quarter-on-quarter to USD 1,062 million during the June quarter, which was far lower than CNBC-TV18 poll of USD 1,167 million.
 
Mobile revenues in India grew on the back of ARPU moving to RS 200 in Q114, up by Rs 16 over corresponding period last year. The voice rate increase (up from 35.68p last year to 36.39p) coupled with higher usage per customer (up from 433 minutes last year to 455) has enabled this improvement in ARPU.
 
Reported International revenues comprising of Africa and South Asia operations grew by 4.6% Y-o-Y in INR terms. Mobile termination rates were revised downward in several key countries in Africa, including Nigeria. Net Revenue in Africa, after netting off inter-connect costs and cost of goods sold, has grown by 8.9% Y-o-Y in INR terms.
 
In a statement,  Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Airtel Limited, said, “Our results for the quarter reflect the overall stability of our operations, and demonstrate the potential for growth, particularly seeing robust data growth across all geographies. Results for Airtel India reflect rationality returning to the sector which needs to be complemented by a more enabling regulatory environment for a deeper penetration of telecom and broadband services.”