\tBharti Airtel suffered another plunge in net income during the last three months of 2018, as increased 4G usage in India and a strong performance in Africa failed to offset the impact of fierce price competition in its home market.<\/p>\n
The operator group’s net income declined by 72 per cent year-on-year in its fiscal Q3 to INR860 million ($12 million) on revenue of INR205 billion. Its profit fall would have been even higher were it not for a one-off gain of INR10 million related to accountancy changes for its Payments Bank.<\/p>\n
In a statement, the company said its operation in India had increased revenue from digital TV service and business segments. However, despite a jump in data usage and its number of 4G connections, India mobile revenue was down 4 per cent year-on-year due to \u201csustained pricing pressure\u201d.<\/p>\n
The story is becoming a familiar one with the company also\u00a0posting large declines in its bottom line in fiscal Q2 [1], as a price war in its home market shows no sign of easing.<\/p>\n
Bharti Airtel CEO Gopal Vittal added: \u201cOur simplified product portfolio and premium content partnerships have played out well during the quarter,\u201d noting strong trends in data usage.<\/p>\n
Africa
\nWhile home woes continued, Airtel Africa booked an 11 per cent year-on-year increase in revenue to INR60.8 billion, driven by higher data usage and continued increases in its Airtel Money operation.<\/p>\n
Data traffic across its Africa business increased 61 per cent year-on-year with a 26 per cent boost in the number of data connections.<\/p>\n
Airtel Money transaction values increased by 29 per cent year-on-year to $6.9 billion during the quarter. Its active mobile money base on the continent was 13.8 million at the end of December, up 32 per cent year-on-year.<\/p>\n[1] https:\/\/www.mobileworldlive.com\/asia\/asia-news\/india-price-war-offsets-africa-gains-at-airtel\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bharti Airtel suffered another plunge in net income during the last three months of 2018, …<\/p>\n
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