Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Tuesday reported a 91.5 per cent yearon-year rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,588 crore for the three months ended December, helped by competitive growth across businesses.

Total revenue rose nearly 20 per cent to Rs 35,804 crore in the third quarter of the current financial year “backed by strong and consistent performance delivery across the portfolio”, the company said in a statement.

The consolidated net income (before exceptional items) was at Rs 1,994 crore, up 147 per cent compared with the year-ago period.

Bharti Airtel managing director Gopal Vittal said the company delivered another quarter of consistent and competitive growth across businesses.

“Revenue grew sequentially by 3.7 per cent while EBITDA margin expanded to 52 per cent. Our strategy of winning quality customers has helped us add 6.4 million 4G customers and exit the quarter with an industry leading ARPU (average revenue per user) of Rs 193,” Vittal said.

Bharti Airtel’s revenue in India grew 19 per cent to Rs 24,961.5 crore in the 2022 December quarter from Rs 20,912.7 crore a year ago.

The total capital expenditure of the company rose 52 per cent to Rs 9,313.6 crore from Rs 6,101.5 crore in the same period a year ago. The increase was mainly on account of 5G network rollout in India.

In India, the company’s capital expenditure jumped 74 per cent to Rs 8,095.4 crore from Rs 4,653.8 crore a year ago.

According to Vittal, the higher capital expenditure led to a 12 per cent decline in the company’s operating free cash flow to Rs 5,071.1 crore.

The telco’s 5G rollout is on track to cover all towns and key rural areas by March 2024, the top honcho said.

India mobile ARPU increased to Rs 193 during the reporting quarter from Rs 163 in December 2021 quarter.

The company had reported ARPU of Rs 190 in the 2022 September quarter.

Vittal said that postpaid, enterprise, homes as well as Africa business sustained their momentum while the DTH business showed signs of growth in an industry that continues to be under pressure. The company reported a 5.8 per cent growth in its global customer base at 51 crore, including 36.92 crore customers in India.

The mobile subscriber base of Bharti Airtel in India grew 2.9 per cent year-on-year to 33.22 crore, including 1.8 crore postpaid customers.