Airtel announces Q4 results: customer base crosses 250 million, net profit down by 28% (India)
Leading telecom operator in India, Bharti Airtel announced its consolidated IFRS results for the fourth quarter and year ended March 31, 2012. According to the company report, the revenue growth in the fourth quarter was fuelled by increased customer additions and strong minutes growth in India. Despite a national strike for 9 days in Nigeria, Africa revenues continued its growth trend.
The consolidated net profit declined 28 percent to $190.6 million, in the fourth quarter ended March, from $265 million a year earlier, resulting in the ninth consecutive quarter for which the operator witnessed a profit decline. The company added that the net income was impacted by higher costs on account of 3G license fee amortisation, 3G interest costs, forex fluctuation losses and tax.
Consolidated EBITDA margin was sustained at a robust level of 33.3 percent benefitting from scale and cost efficiencies. Further, revenue growth of 11.6 percent for the full year in India and South Asia was mainly contributed by stability in pricing accompanied by robust growth in customer numbers. The company’s Africa revenues stood at $1,071 million, up by 15.9 percent from the previous year.
In a statement, Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman & Managing Director, Bharti Airtel Limited, said that he is pleased that the year has ended with the Company’s customer base crossing 250 million across twenty countries, the twentieth country being Rwanda. Their launch of 4G LTE, the first in India, is testimony to their commitment to the broadband agenda.
Further, the recent regulatory developments in India will have significant implications on the future of telephony and broadband, as well as India’s global competitiveness. The entire industry looks to the Government for a fair, transparent and sustainable telecom regime.
Samsung net income up by 81 percent (South Korea)
South Korean company Samsung Electronics Co. has posted its highest profit in at least two years after beating Apple Inc. and Nokia Oyj in smartphone sales, according to a report by BN. The company said in a statement that net income went up 81 percent from a year earlier to $4.4 billion.
As per the report, Samsung shares witnessed a record high, with handsets such as the Galaxy Note causing the mobile phone business to almost triple in the quarter.
Further, the report reveals that Samsung plans to double sales of smartphones and tablet computers this year, helped by new products, the company said in February. Including basic phones, Samsung expects to sell about 380 million handsets this year after shipping a record 300 million units last year.
SingTel reports 9.6 per cent decline in Q3 results (Singapore)
Leading telecom operator in Singapore, SingTel has reported a decline of 9.6 percent in its Q3 net profit results owing to a weak performance by Indian associate Bharti Airtel in its last quarter results.
According to company reports, the net income fell from US$ 796 million in Q3 2010 to US$ 717 million in the same quarter this year. Further, the company reported a net profit of US$ 719 million in the third quarter of 2011 as compared to US$ 796 million in the same period last year.
As per a statement made by the company, the strong gain in mobile customers in Singapore during the quarter led to higher acquisition and retention costs, while contributions from the regional mobile associates declined due to their weaker currencies and 3G losses from Bharti India.
Indian operator and Singtel’s associate Bharti Airtel reported a decline of 22 percent for its net profit in Q3 2011, primarily owing to a reduction in mobile phone usage by its subscribers and increased expenditure for the roll-out of 3G services.
VimpelCom Q4 profits increase by 63% (Russia)
VimpelCom has announced its financial results, and has reported that its Q4’10 revenues rose by 22% to US$2.8 billion, and net income jumped sharply by 62.7% to US$461.2 million. For the full year, revenues rose by 20.8% to US$10.5 billion, while net income was up by 49.2% to US$1.7 billion.
For the full year, the number of mobile subscriptions increased to 92.7 million an increase of 43.5% y-o-y; broadband subscriptions grew to 3.8 million showing an increase of 66.2% year on year.
Capex was $2.2 billion; Capex to revenue ratio was 21.2%, reflecting a significant step up in 4Q10.
Telekom Malaysia Q4 revenues grow by 2.1%
Telekom Malaysia has reported its Q4 results. As per the results, the company posted revenues of US$2.9 billion in 2010, as compared to US$2.83 billion twelve months ago.
According to the company, much of the growth was due to the increasing demand for internet and data services: sales from its internet unit were increased by 5.9% year-on-year to US$559.63 million.
Net income soared 88% to US$395.03 million, partly increased by the sale of stakes in a number of affiliated companies. In its outlook for 2011, the company stated that it was targeting revenue growth of 2.5%, and an EBITDA margin of 32%, decreased slightly from 33.1% recorded in 2010 and 34% posted in 2009.
CAPEX in 2011 is expected to reach US$987.58 billion as the company continues the launch of ‘HSBB’, its high speed broadband network.
Bharti Airtel Q3 net drops by 40.62% (India)
Bharti Airtel had reported a 40.62% drop in third quarter net income to US$286.06 million, affected largely by an increase in spectrum charges and one-time costs related to its brand relaunch.
The company had registered a net income of US$481.75 million in the October-December quarter of the previous fiscal.
The company’s total revenues, however, were up by 51.14% at US$3.41 billion in the December quarter, compared to US$2.26 billion in the year-ago period.
According to the company’s statement, on a year-on-year basis, its income before taxes dropped on account of an increase in spectrum charges in India (US$17.55 million) and an increase in net interest outgo (US$103.37), apart from the one-time brand relaunch cost and forex losses.
It added that on a quarter-on-quarter basis, Bharti Airtel’s income before taxes was impacted by the one-time brand relaunch cost of US$74.62 million. In addition, adverse foreign currency fluctuation in Africa and India resulted in an exchange loss of US$33.14 million for the company in the third quarter of the 2011 fiscal.
The company’s average revenue per person (ARPU) stood at US$4.34 in the December quarter, compared to US$4.43 in the September quarter.
Meditel Q3 Net Income rises 91% (Morocco)
Medi Telecom SA, Morocco’s second- largest mobile-phone operator has revealed its quarter results. The company’s net income increased by 91% to US$33.6 million, thanks to added customers’ base.
According to the company, its revenue increased by 11% to US$522.60 million. It did not provide any comparative figures for the same period last year.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization climbed 9% to US$201.57 million and Meditel’s customer base increased by 10% to 10.1 million.
France Telecom SA bought a 40% stake in Meditel for US$899 million in September.
South Korea’s KT Corp net income doubles in Q1
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The net income of South Korea’s KT Corp for the three months ended March 31, 2010 more than doubled courtesy, completion of its merger with former mobile subsidiary KTF Corp. With 166.9% year-on-year increase, a net income of KRW372.5 billion has been posted by the operator compared to KRW139.6 million (USD335 million) in 1Q 2009.
Consolidated revenue has also been boosted by the integration of KTF, which rose by 73.9% against the same period a year earlier to KRW4.82 trillion, although revenues from fixed line voice services continued to fall, down 11.4% against 1Q 2009 at KRW1.12 trillion. While the number of VoIP subscribers increased by 290% to 1.97 million, the subscriber numbers declined by 9.5% to 17.6 million.
As far as wireless subscribers are concerned, KT’s total customer base rose by 5.6% to 15.37 million, with the number of fixed line broadband subscribers also climbing, at 7.09 million.
Telecom Argentina net profit rises 46%
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: 15 percent year-on-year rise in the revenues has been reported by Telecom Argentina generating ARS 12.26 billion in 2009. With 46 percent rise in the net income for the period reached ARS 1.4 billion. The mobile revenues of the company rose 16 percent to ARS 8.06 billion while the fixed-line revenues increased 14 percent to ARS 4.1 billion.
17% improvement in OIBDA has also been noticed which reached ARS 3.9 billion. 1.9 million new customers has been gained by the company in the year 2009 for a total of 14.5 million and out of total, 69 percent are prepaid and 31 percent are postpaid.
Company’s Paraguay unit, Nucleo had 1.8 million customers at the end of the period, down 1 percent from a year earlier. 2 percent increase in the number of lines of the fixed division has been showed which reached up to 4.36 million and the number of ADSL customers rose 17 percent year-on-year to 1.2 million users at end-December.
With 1% rise, ARPU for fixed customers reached ARS 40 in 2009.
