On a sequential basis, its consolidated net profit rose 33.5 percent for the quarter.

Its revenue from operations rose 21.9 percent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 34,527 crore in the quarter under review (Q2FY23), helped by strong performance delivery across portfolio and crossing 500 million customers globally.

It had reported a revenue of Rs 28,326 crore in the same period of FY22.

Bharti Airtel’s average revenue per user (ARPU) increased to Rs 190 in the second quarter of FY23 from Rs 183 in the first quarter of the ongoing fiscal.

Its consolidated EBITDA or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization jumped 6.7 percent for the quarter to Rs 17,721 crore, while the operating margin improved to 51.3 percent from 50.6 percent on QoQ basis.

“We have delivered yet another quarter with competitive revenue growth and improved margins. Our consolidated revenue grew sequentially by 5.3 percent and EBITDA margin expanded to 51.3 percent. The consistency of our execution is driv-en by the strength and resilience of our portfolio,” said Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO, India & South Asia.

Vittal further said, “Our B2B and Homes business continued their strong growth momentum while Mobile ARPU expanded to 190 on the back of premiumization and deep customer understanding.”

The telco’s 5G services have gone live in eight cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Siliguri, Nagpur and Varanasi. It also said that consumers using 5G services will have to pay as per their existing 4G plan.

“We are now rolling out 5G and are confident that Airtel 5G Plus will deliver the best experience in India while being kinder to the environment. I do believe that 5G technology has the potential of bringing tremendous innovation into India. At the same time we remain concerned about the low ROCE that our business delivers due to pricing that is the lowest in the world. Given the large investments required to drive digital adoption in India we believe there is a need for tariff correction,” Vittal added.