Bharti Airtel has witnessed a substantial narrowing of losses during the second quarter ended September 2020 as it did not have to make provisions towards dues on account of adjusted gross revenues (AGR).

Consolidated loss at the telco came in at Rs 763 crore compared with Rs 23,045 crore in the same period of the previous year when it made provisions of Rs 28,450 crore in the immediate aftermath of the Supreme Court ruling on the statutory AGR dues.

In the first quarter of the fiscal, the company posted a consolidated loss of Rs 15,933 crore. It had then recorded an “incremental provision” of Rs 10,744 crore.

Telcos like Bharti Airtel have not been seriously affected by Covid-19 as data consumption has jumped with people working from home. During the second quarter, its consolidated revenue was Rs 25,785 crore, up 22 per cent over the corresponding period last year.

India revenues during the period at Rs 18,747 crore showed a rise of 22 per cent over the same period last year.

The company said its mobile revenues witnessed a solid growth because of it unrelenting focus on winning quality customers and the delivery of a differentiated experience.

Consequently, its average revenue per user (ARPU) leapt to Rs 162 compared with Rs 128 in the same period of the previous year.

In its statement to the accounts for the period under review, Airtel said the Supreme Court has directed operators to pay 10 per cent of its total dues by March 31, 2021 and the remaining dues in yearly instalments commencing April 1, 2021 till March 31, 2031, payable by March 31 of every succeeding financial year.

“The group has represented to the DoT that it has already paid more than 10 per cent of the total dues as demanded by DoT and will ensure ongoing compliance with the Supreme Court’s orders.’’

The company added that during the period, it continued to garner a strong share of the 4G net additions to the market. 4G data customers increased 48.1 per cent to 152.7 million compared with the previous year while traffic increased to 77.3 peta bytes per against 48.9 peta bytes.