Mumbai: Bharti Airtel has reported the results for quarter ending June 2019. Despite its revenues increasing by 0.6% to Rs 15,345 Cr from Rs 15,241 Cr in March quarter,high finance related costs pushed company’s India operations into a pre-tax loss ofRs 2,012 Cr compared with 1,954 Cr in the previous quarter.
Bharti Airtel saw a sharp decline in its monthly revenue from DTH due to reporting changes.
“Subsequent to the new tariff order (NTO), the service providers are responsible only for re-transmission and are not in a position to control content and pricing. Accordingly, the Gross revenue is only to the extent of net value retained i.e. customer payments received net of broadcaster’s fee (erstwhile content charges),” it said.
ARPU in the DTH business fell to Rs 157 per month in the latest quarter, down from 233 per month in the preceding quarter. However, the company was able to show better margins, possibly because of the new accounting method, aided by the new tariff system.
EBIT, or profit before interest and tax, jumped to Rs 244 Cr for the June quarter from Rs 192 Cr in the preceding period, but was down from Rs 327 Cr in the December quarter. In the year-ago quarter, DTH EBIT was Rs 181 Cr
Total revenue of the DTH business was sharply down at Rs 739 Cr from Rs 1051 Cr in the preceding three months and Rs 1,033 Cr in the December quarter.
However, said Airtel, the change is due to a change in the way revenue is being reported. Without this change, said the company, revenue would have been at Rs1,148 Cr.
