Bharti Airtel Shares Hit 52-Week High Post Q3 Results

Shares of Bharti Airtel on Wednesday climbed almost 2 percent to its fresh 52-week high of Rs 529 on NSE. The gain comes after the telecom operator reported a consolidated loss of Rs 1,035 crore for the December-ended quarter but showed an improvement in mobile average revenue per user (ARPU).

Its ARPU for the quarter rose to Rs 135 from Rs 128 in September and Rs 104 in December 2018. Apart from the ARPU, other positive aspects of the business included increase in year-on-year mobile data traffic from 2,996 petabyte to 5,166 petabyte, highest ever quarterly 4G subscriber base addition at 2.1 crore and likely traffic hikes.

Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO of India & South Asia, said that the tariff revision in December was a welcome step towards repairing the financial health of the industry, but he insisted that tariffs "must go up further" for enabling the industry to invest in emerging technologies. Airtels' mobile revenues for the quarter rose 9.6 percent, partly due to the tariff actions, but Vittal said that the full impact of the December tariff hike is yet to be seen.

The company's profits in the quarter were largely affected by exceptional charges toward AGR dues. However, the company said it has successfully raised Rs 21,502 crore through a combination of fresh equity issuance via qualified institutional placement (QIP) and issue of convertible bonds which it intends to use to augment its long-term resources and strengthen its balance sheet.

It also said that "the management has concluded that the previously reported material uncertainty on the group's ability to continue as a going concern no longer exists."