Bharti Airtel Q3 net zooms 123 p.c. to Rs 1,215 cr.

NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel Limited today announced its unaudited results for the third quarter ended December 31, 2006, based on the United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (US GAAP).

According to a media release, the net profit of the company stood at Rs 1,215 crore, up 123 per cent over the corresponding quarter last year. The consolidated revenue in the latest quarter grew 62 per cent to Rs 4,913 and the EBITDA increased 79 per cent to Rs 2,005 crore on a year-on-year basis.

The cash profit from operations was Rs 2,137 crore, up 108 per cent from the year-ago throd quarter.

The audited revenues and net profit for the nine months ended December 31, 2006 was Rs 13, 126 crore and Rs 2, 904 crore, a growth of 59 per cent and 84 per cent respectively.

Bharti had over 3.37 crore customers, as on December 31, 2006, an increase in the total customer base of 92 per cent, over

the corresponding period last year. Its market share of all India mobile subscribers stood at 21.8 per cent as on December 31, 2006.

Commenting on the results and performance, Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman and managing director, Bharti Airtel

Limited, said, “(The) Demand for telecom services continues to be robust across all segments, led by a buoyant economy.

In particular, the wireless segment has seen record additions and we believe that this trend is likely to continue.”

Meanwhile, Bharti Airtel said in a separate statement that its Board of Directors in a meeting held on Monday approved a scheme of transfer of towers for mobile communications and related passive infrastructure to a wholly owned subsidiary, Bharti Infratel Limited, for enhanced operational efficiencies.

It had also approved the commencement of Direct to Home (DTH) services to address the fast growing home entertainment segment through its wholly owned subsidiary Bharti Telemedia Limited. The Board further approved the acquisition of a submarine network cable system from Network i2i (jointly owned by Singtel and a Bharti group company) by way of purchase of all the assets or equity for an overall consideration of $110 million, subject to obtaining the requisite approvals.

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