India's Bharti Airtel misses profit view on higher network costs (updated)
UPDATE 1-India's Bharti Airtel misses profit view on higher network costs Adds details and background
Nov 5 (Reuters) - India's second-largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel BRTI.NS missed second-quarter profit estimates on Thursday as higher network operating costs offset gains from subscriber additions and upgrades to costlier plans.
The company's consolidated net profit rose to 88.88 billion ($940.45 million) for the quarter ended September 30, from 67.92 billion rupees a year ago.
Analysts, on average, expected a profit of 96.73 billion rupees, according to LSEG-compiled data.
An 11% rise in network costs, which cover the operation and maintenance of telecom infrastructure, and a 13% increase in licence fees pushed total expenses up about 15% to 259.32 billion rupees during the quarter.
However, Airtel's industry-leading average revenue per user (ARPU) - a key telecom metric - rose 6% year-on-year to 271 rupees during the second-quarter, helped by a 18.8 million increase in its 4G and 5G user base.
With no broad-based tariff hikes since July 2024, Airtel has relied on premiumisation to lift ARPU, discontinuing several cheaper prepaid plans during the quarter in a move analysts expect will steer users towards costlier recharges.
Analysts at brokerage Centrum expect a 12-15% industry-wide tariff hike over the next 4 to 5 months.
India's telecom sector has witnessed intense competition since Jio's entry in 2016, with the Reliance unit overtaking peers to command the country's largest user base.
Airtel's India user base grew 10.9% year-on-year to over 498.7 million as of Sept. 30, lagging behind Jio's 542.4 million.
Revenue from Airtel's Africa AAF.L business, which operates in 14 countries across sub-Saharan Africa and accounts for about a quarter of group revenue, rose 37.6%.
Overall revenue rose 16.7% to 608.78 billion rupees, above analysts' expectation of 604 billion rupees.
($1 = 94.5075 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Aleef Jahan and Anuran Sadhu in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)
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