Indian telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Tuesday reported a drop in second-quarter profit, hurt by a one-time exceptional loss.
Consolidated net profit fell to Rs 1,341 crore for the quarter ended on 30 September, from Rs 2,145 crore a year ago. The results included an exceptional cost of Rs 1,570 crore.
Airtel and rival Reliance Jio Infocomm, India’s top two telecom operators, have been racing to capture a bigger market share with investments worth billions of dollars on network infrastructure to expand 5G services in urban areas and 4G coverage in the rural.
Airtel said last month it has over 50 million users on its 5G service, compared with more than 70 million on Jio’s 5G network.
Its revenue from operations rose 7.3 per cent to Rs 37,044 crore but missed an LSEG-polled analysts’ estimate of Rs 37,959 crore.
Expenses climbed 3.5 per cent, led by higher network operating and marketing expenses.
Last week, Jio reported its slowest profit growth in seven quarters, while Vodafone Idea posted a wider loss as its subscriber base continued to shrink.
