Bharti Airtel profit plunges 26.5 percent

NEW DELHI - Bharti Airtel, the country’s largest mobile-phone operator, said Wednesday that its second quarter profit plunged 26.5 percent because of decline in revenue as the company cut call rates to win a larger share of customers in Africa.

The company’s net profit for the quarter ended Sep 30, 2010, was Rs.1,661.20 crore as against Rs.2,263 crore during the same quarter last year.

The total revenue of the company, however, increased 46.6 percent at Rs.15,215 crore for the quarter under review as compared to Rs.10,378 crore in the same quarter of the financial year 2009, the company said in a regulatory filing.

The results included the company’s Africa operations, which it acquired in June from Kuwait’s mobile telecom company Zain.

The net income of the operator decreased by 26.6 percent at Rs.1,661 crore for this quarter as compared to Rs.2,263 crore during the previous one.

The Africa revenue stood at Rs.3,891 crore for the second quarter ended Sep 30 against Rs.958 in the previous quarter.

The second quarter of the fiscal was the first full quarter of the African operations; the first quarter incorporated only 23 days of the Africa operations effective June 8, 2010, said the company.

On the roling out of the third generation services in the country, chairman and managing director Sunil Bharti Mittal said: “Our 3G services will be available across India, starting with launches in the current quarter.”

“We are also redefining the accessibility and affordability levels across Africa through innovative business models,” he added.

Currently, the overall customer base of the company in 19 countries stands at 19.48 crore.