Telecom giant Bharti Airtel has posted a meteoric rise in its consolidated profit, which soared by more than 2.5 times to Rs 4,160 crore for the first quarter ending on June 30, 2024, compared to Rs 1,612.5 crore in the same period last year.

According to a PTI report from New Delhi, the company’s consolidated revenue from operations saw a 2.8 percent uptick, reaching Rs 38,506.4 crore during the reported quarter, up from Rs 37,440 crore in the previous year’s corresponding period.

Notably, Bharti Airtel’s India revenue experienced a 10.1 percent year-on-year growth, climbing to Rs 29,046 crore. The key performance metric, mobile average revenue per user (ARPU), also increased to Rs 211 from Rs 200 in the same period a year ago, indicating sustainable growth in the market.

 “During the quarter ended June 30, 2024, the net exceptional gain of Rs 7,350 million comprises of gain of Rs 13,991 million on account of favourable judgement by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India regarding the waiver of interest on tax treatment of adjusted revenue linked variable license fee payable to DOT, gain of Rs 2,746 million pertaining to the divestment of Airtel Lanka,” Airtel said in a statement.

“First quarter of FY ’25 was yet another steady quarter with India revenue growing at 1.9 per cent sequentially and sustained EBITDA margins expansion to 53.7 per cent. Our stringent focus on driving cost efficiencies is reflected in strong operating leverage. Africa continues to deliver strong underlying constant currency revenue growth,” Bharti Airtel, Managing Director, Gopal Vittal said in a statement.

Vittal said that Airtel accelerated pace on FWA (fixed wireless access) services expansion across key towns.

“Our Wifi services (FTTH and FWA) are now available in over 1300 cities. Our digital portfolio is shaping up well and it is geared for accelerated growth to add strength to our already diversified portfolio,” Vittal said.

Airtel’s customer base grew by 7.3 per cent to Rs. 56.75 crores from Rs. 52.89 crores on YoY while in India it grew by about 7 per cent to Rs. 40.92 crores from 38.28 crores on a yearly basis.

Airtel claims to have a leadership position in the postpaid segment with net adds of 8 lakh in the June quarter of 2024.