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.
Bharti Airtel’s Q4 results to rise 3.5 percent at $3.73 billion (India)
According to estimates from research firms, leading telecom operator Bharti Airtel is expected to see a 3.5 per cent increase in its Q4 results, reaching $3.73 billion, as reported by Moneycontrol. The report reveals that the company’s net profit is expected to rise up to 28.1 per cent at $252 million, QoQ.
As per the report, Bharti is expected to report 3.5 per cent qoq revenue growth. Indian mobile revenue is expected to growth 3.7 per cent, while ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) is expected to be at $ 3.7. The revenue from its African operations is expected to bring in revenues of $ 1.07 billion.
The key things the operator plans to focus on include increasing its subscriber base owing to the roll-out of the 3G network. Also, improved network management and data traffic will remain a key point for the operator.
Hutchison Whampoa net profit crosses $7 billion (Hong Kong)
Telecom company Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. reported a net profit of more than double from the past year, owing to significant contributions from the infrastructure and energy businesses. As per reports, the net profit was up $ 7.2 billion from $ 2.6 billion.
Li Ka-shing, Chairman, has said that the company would continue to grow its recurrent earnings and maintain a strong financial position and liquidity in 2012. He claimed that the rate of growth may be slow in the short term owing to measures for controlling inflation.
The company reported a 7 per cent rise in its 3G subscriber base reaching over 31 million.
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.
China Wireless doubles profits in 2010
China Wireless Technologies, a Chinese mobile equipment maker raised its revenues in 2010 by 76% to US$588.86 million compared to US$333.55 million in 2009.
Out of its total revenu,e 3G Coolpad sales contributed US$518.29 million, an increase of 164.4% year-on-year, and 2G Coolpad sales generated US$66.98 million in revenues.
The company sold 5.04 million Coolpad devices during the year compared with 2.17 million in the previous year. Though the average selling price of the company decreased over the year to US$116.87 from US$153.95 as the company extended its product mix to the mid and low-end segments.
China Wireless more than doubled it profit to US$69.93 million from US$33.81 million in the previous year. Company’s net profit also doubled to US$61.61 million from US$30.79 million in 2009. China Wireless has declared a dividend of US$0.006 per share.
China Telecom Q4 profits increase by 5%
China Telecom Corp Ltd has reported an increase of about 5% in fourth-quarter net profit, helped by growing revenue from mobile and broadband services.
According to reports, China Telecom posted a net profit of US$482.97 million for the fourth quarter of 2010 and reported a net profit of US$2.4 billion for the full year.
China Telecom, a newcomer to China’s mobile market, operates the country’s largest fixed-line network and is aggressively promoting broadband over that channel.
Its shares went up by about 25% in 2010, beating a 5% advance by the benchmark Hang Seng Index.
China Mobile full year profits rise by 3.9%
China Mobile Corp has reported its full year results. As per the results, its full year revenues rose by 7.3% to US$73.8 billion, while net profit increased by 3.9% to US$18.2 billion.
The customer base rose by 11.8% to 584 million – a rise of 61.73 million over the previous year. Of the total, 20.70 million are using 3G services.
EBITDA rose 4.5% over last year to US$36.43 billion, with EBITDA margin reaching 49.3%.
In addition, voice usage volume continued to grow. Average minutes of usage per user per month (MOU) were 521 minutes, up by 5.4% over last year. Average revenue per user per month (ARPU) was US$11.10, exhibiting a slowdown in decline.
According to the company, it will accelerate the rollout of its TD-LTE network and will still consider suitable overseas acquisitions.
Tele Norte Leste dangles to profit in Q4 (Brazil)
Brazilian telecommunications company, Tele Norte Leste Participacoes SA has reported a net profit of $172 million, reversing from a loss of US$360.72 million last year.
In the fourth quarter, the company reported net revenue of US$4.41 billion, decreased from US$4.58 billion in the fourth-quarter of 2009.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, (EBITDA), increased slightly to US$1.37 billion from US$1.33 billion.
Fixed-line customers fell to 20.02 million, lowered from 21.29 million in the fourth quarter of 2009. Fixed-line broadband customers rose to 4.35 million from 4.2 million and mobile customers were up to 39.3 million, from 36.1 million last year.
Zain Q4 net profit rises (Kuwait)
Kuwait’s Mobile Telecommunications Co. Zain stated that its 2010 net profit rose as the company added new subscribers and that it plans to double its net profit by 2014.
The subject of a nearly $12 billion takeover offer by U.A.E.’s biggest telecoms company Emirates Telecommunications Corp., Etisalat, said its net profit excluding a capital gain from selling its African assets rose to US$1.02 billion, compared with US$700.80 million a year earlier.
Net profit reached US$3.80 billion, including a capital gain of US$2.76 billion from the sale of Zain Africa assets on June 8, 2010.
According to Zain Group Chief Executive, Nabeel Bin Salamah, the company targets organic growth and more than doubling its net profit by 2014. To realize their business aspirations, they have devised an integrated strategy that will hopefully aid them, through organic growth, to reach 52 million customers, generate 6.3 billion in revenues, and increase earnings before interest taxes, depreciation and amortization to $3.4 billion– while improving the EBITDA margin to 53%-and more than double their net profit to $2.1 billion by 2014.
Zain stated that 2010 revenue reached US$5.03 billion, 7% increase from the year earlier. Zain added that its mobile customers stood at 37 million at the end of December, an increase of 23% from the same period a year earlier.
