Airtel posts another loss as it faces massive government dues

Bharti Airtel Ltd reported its third straight quarterly loss, as India’s third-largest telecom firm booked 10.50 billion rupees ($147 million) in charges related to spectrum fee payments and write-downs of network equipment.
The company reported a loss of 10.35 billion rupees ($145 million) for the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with a profit of 862 million rupees a year earlier.
Analysts on average had expected the company to report a net loss of 5.52 billion rupees, according to Refinitiv data.
The results come as Airtel and other telecom firms face demands from India’s government to pay a combined $13 billion in overdue levies. That had prompted the company to warn in November about its ability to continue as a going concern.
Airtel confirmed on Tuesday that those concerns no longer existed.