Bharti Airtel, India’s top mobile operator has reported a 32% drop in quarterly profit at Rs 1,682 crore due to the foreign exchange losses.
The company lost the revenue in the April-June quarter on account of the strong dollar against Rupee and several African currencies. So the exchange fluctuation caused a loss of Rs 216 crore, as against gain of Rs 279 crore in the same quarter last year, Bharti Airtel told the reporters.
It also said the total income grew by 17.4% to Rs 12,231 crore during the Q1 of current fiscal, from Rs 10,414 crore in the same period last year.
SingTel, which owns over 32% in Airtel, said the net profit fell to Rs 1682 crore ($361.7 million) under international accounting standards during the quarter as against Rs 2475 crore a year before.
At present, Bharti has total revenue of Rs 12231 crore.
“The first quarter witnessed the successful completion of acquisition of Zain’s mobile operation in 15 African countries. We also won valuable 3G and BWA licenses in India, which will transfer Airtel into a lifestyle enabler. Our business in India and South Asia got off to a solid start with robust revenue growth and healthy margin,” Bharti Airtel Chairman and MD Sunil Bharti Mittal said.
As per the current reports, average revenue per user (ARPU) fell to Rs 215 in the first quarter, which is a drop of 2% in Q1.
The company is also confident of getting good support from its African operations that it bought in June from Zain in a $9 billion deal.
The company will also acquire Telecom Seychelles Ltd for $62 million, an official said.
Bharti Airtel has currently about 137 million users in India.