Airtel’s premium play fuels revenue beat, but user growth slows

New Delhi: Higher spending by customers and a stronger Africa business helped Bharti Airtel Ltd beat revenue and operating profit estimates in the September quarter. The gains, however, masked a slowdown in subscriber growth sequentially, with new additions falling sharply and customer churn rising after the operator withdrew its entry-level daily-data prepaid plan. Net profit also fell short of market expectations.

Consolidated revenue from operations rose 16.7% year-on-year and 4% sequentially to ₹60,878 crore, topping the Bloomberg estimate of ₹60,140 crore.