Bharti Airtel Digital TV adds 270,000 subscribers in 4Q 2014

Wednesday, February 4th, 2015
Bharti Airtel logo

NEW DELHI, India — Bharti Airtel Limited (“Bharti Airtel” or “the Company”) today announced its audited consolidated IFRS results for the third quarter ended December 31, 2014.

Digital TV Services

As on December 31, 2014, the Company had its Digital TV operations in 639 districts with 9.8 Mn customers, an increase of 11.4% as compared to corresponding quarter last year. Net customer additions for Digital TV during the quarter were 270 K. As a result of higher HD penetration and upselling of packs, ARPU increased by Rs 7 to Rs 214 as compared to Rs 207 in the corresponding quarter last year.

Revenues from Digital TV services increased by 15.8% to Rs 6,234 Mn as compared to Rs 5,384 Mn in the corresponding quarter last year. From this quarter, the company has harmonized the accounting of indirect taxes in line with other segments and industry practice; such taxes were part of opex earlier and are now netted off against revenues. On a like to like basis the growth in revenues for DTH is 25.3% compared to the corresponding quarter last year.

During the current quarter, the Company incurred a capital expenditure of Rs 1,630 Mn. Operating free cash flow during the quarter at Rs 77 Mn has significantly improved, compared to cash burn of Rs 137 Mn in the corresponding quarter last year, an increase of 156%.

Customer Base (000’s)

                                           Q-o-Q             Y-o-Y
                      Dec 2014  Sep 2014  Growth  Dec 2013  Growth
                      --------  --------  ------  --------  ------
Digital TV Services      9,810     9,540    2.8%     8,807   11.4%

Operational Performance – India – Digital TV

                                       Dec 31,  Sep 30,  Jun 30,  Mar 31,  Dec 31,
Parameter                        Unit     2014     2014     2014     2014     2013
-------------------------------  ----  -------  -------  -------  -------  -------
Customers                        000s    9,810    9,540    9,388    9,012    8,807
Net additions                    000s      270      151      376      205      235
Average Revenue Per User (ARPU)    Rs      214      220      214      203      207
Average Revenue Per User (ARPU)    US      3.5      3.6      3.6      3.3      3.3  
Monthly Churn                       %     1.0%     1.1%     0.6%     0.9%     0.8%