Airtel says recent tariff revision consolidated net 4G SIM additions

New Delhi, Feb 9 Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Wednesday said the net 4G SIM consolidation during the Q3FY22 was "significant" due to an upward revision in prepaid tariffs.

"We did see significant SIM consolidation during the quarter that we have been through. But remember the level of consolidation that we saw was much lower than that we saw in the first round of tariff raise that happened back in 2019," said Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO, India and South AsiaAduring a virtual interaction with investors.

"We are almost flat in terms of overall customer additions and I would say that in relative terms, we have come out quite well."

In late-November 2021, Bharti Airtel increased tariffs on prepaid plans by around 20 per cent, as did by Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea.

Airtel saw around three million 4G net additions in Q3FY22.

"The slowdown in 4G net addition is simply triggered by the tariff change that has happened in the quarter. I think that is expected to moderate as we go forward."

On per capita data consumption, which is currently in a range 17-18 GB and which has in a way plateaued out in the recent months, Vittal said the overall data consumption growth in the quarter was soft primarily because we were out of lockdowns.

Intake has now moderated as schools and other things have opened, Vittal opined.

The company's consolidated net profit fell 2.8 per cent during Q3FY22 to Rs 830 crore on a year-on-year basis. In the same quarter of the previous fiscal, the consolidated net profit of the company stood at Rs 854 crore.

On the other hand, the total revenues during Q3FY22 grew 12.6 per cent to Rs 29,867 crore, as against Rs 26,518 crore in the same quarter last fiscal. Besides, EBITDA grew 22.4 per cent to Rs 14,905 crore, against Rs 12,178 crore reported in the same quarter last fiscal.