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Revenue
₹37,440 Cr
verified against source
Revenue YoY
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reported change
EBITDA
Pending
latest reported figure
Source
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Actual signal trajectory
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Quarter read
What the record says.
Bharti Airtel delivered a strong Q1 FY24 with consolidated revenue of INR 37,440 crore, up 4% QoQ, driven by India mobile revenue growth of 4.5% QoQ. EBITDA margin expanded 50 bps QoQ to 52.7%, aided by the War on Waste program which reduced network OpEx per site by 7%. Mobile ARPU reached INR 200, the first goalpost, with 5.6 million 4G net adds and record postpaid additions of 833,000. The company generated operating free cash flow of INR 4,827 crore in India despite elevated CapEx of INR 9,300 crore. Management highlighted premiumization levers (feature phone to smartphone, prepaid to postpaid, data monetization, IR) and expects ARPU to trend toward the INR 300 target. Key risk: competitive pressure from JioBharat phone and slower-than-expected 5G device adoption could delay ARPU growth.
Colored figures show movement against the previous available record.
Guidance to track
- CapEx front-loaded in H1, with full-year spend in line with guidance, focused on 5G, broadband, and data centers.
- Management targets ARPU of INR 300 over the long term, driven by premiumization levers and potential tariff reset.
- 60% of 60,000 high-potential villages already covered; rollout expected to conclude by year-end.
Risks flagged
- Reliance Jio's low-cost 4G feature phone could slow Airtel's upgrade from feature phones to smartphones, impacting ARPU growth.
- 5G smartphone shipments are only 48% of total, and installed base is 14-15%, limiting 5G offload and monetization.
- CapEx remains high at INR 9,300 crore in Q1, and India net debt-to-EBITDA is 3.19x, though deleveraging is underway.
Key quotes
- Our people behave like owners. It is their company and their money. This is a priceless aspect of the Airtel culture, which makes us unique and very, very difficult to replicate.
- The big increases will really come from a tariff reset. Within the confines of the challenges that we operate with in a competitive market, we have several levers.
- We are not in any race here... the impact of 5G is not necessarily moving the experience needle at all.
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