Bharti Airtel Limited, the parent company of Airtel Nigeria, has announced its audited consolidated IFRS results for the third quarter and nine months ended December 31, 2012.

Figures released by the company indicated that revenues in Q3 on a consolidated basis at 20,239 crore grew by 9.5% over the corresponding period last year, led by strong growth of 70% in mobile internet in India, 29% in Digital TV, 20% in ‘airtel business’ (B2B) and 15% in Africa.

Crore is the Indian English word for ten million, particularly with regard to a currency, in this case the Indian Rupee.

“The new activation processes and improved retention strategies in India have helped reduce monthly churn to 5.9% from 8.5% in the previous quarter. ARPU has improved to 185, a sequential improvement of `8 in this quarter,” according to a Bharti Airtel statement.

“Africa revenues grew by 15% Y-o-Y, supported by customer base growth of 21%, voice traffic increase of 42%, and non voice revenue growth of 85%. Voice usage per customer has grown Y-o-Y by 15% from 125 minutes to 144 minutes,” the statement added..

Consolidated EBITDA margin is at 30.6%. Q2 margin at 31.3% benefitted from a favourable judicial outcome in respect of certain inter-connect agreements. The Consolidated Net Income at ` 284 crore (Q3 FY12: 1,011 crore) was impacted by: higher depreciation & amortisation cost (316 crore), net interest costs (284 crore), forex fluctuation losses (261 crore) and tax provisions (109 crore). Consolidated Operating Free Cash Flows for the quarter were at 3,801 crore. The Net Debt - Equity ratio was at 1.25 (Q2: 1.35) and USD Net Debt - EBITDA ratio was at 2.55 (Q2: 2.72).

In a statement, Mr. Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman/Managing Director, Bharti Airtel Limited, said: “Market conditions have been challenging in recent quarters due to pricing pressures and rising input costs, which have put enormous pressure on the sector and consequently the margins. However, the worst seems to be getting over with corrections taking place in customer acquisition practices and the tariffs, which are driving quality of acquisitions and improving efficiencies. Moreover, on the data front, it is heartening to see strong growth quarter on quarter and across geographies.”

•Photo: Bharti Airtel Chairman and MD, Sunil Bharti Mittal.