Bharti net falls 26%, Arpu jumps to Rs 193

Bharti Airtel’s net profit in the October-December quarter fell 26% q-o-q to Rs 1,588 crore, missing Bloomberg consensus estimate of Rs 2,114.5 crore. This was on account of higher expenses and an exceptional charge of Rs 670 crore on account of provision for licence fee related to earlier periods for one of the wholly-owned subsidiaries.

Consolidated revenues beat estimates and rose 4% sequentially to Rs 35,804 crore owing to strong additions in the 4G subscribers and increase in average spends by consumers on its network. During the quarter, the company witnessed growth across all its verticals. Bloomberg had pegged revenues at Rs 35,726.7 crore.