On a consolidated basis, profit before tax jumped 67.6% year-on-year to Rs 4,359 crore in Q3 December 2022. EBITDA jumped 24.8% YoY to Rs 18,601 crore in Q3 FY23. EBITDA margin stood at 52% in Q3 FY23, up 205 bps as against 49.9% in Q3 FY22. EBIT stood at Rs 9,260 crore, up 46% YoY. EBIT margin was at 25.9%, expansion of 462 bps YoY. Consolidated mobile data traffic were at 13,625 PBs in the quarter with a YoY growth of 23.7%.

India revenues for Q3 FY23 at Rs 24,962 crore, increased by 19.4% YoY. Mobile revenues grew by 20.8% YoY on account of improved realisation as well as strong 4G customer additions during the year.

ARPU (average revenue per user) for the quarter stood at Rs 193 compared with Rs 163 in Q3 FY22 on the back of continued focus on quality customers and premiumization.

The company strengthened its leadership position in postpaid segment with a customer base of 32.5 million (including IoT). It added 21.2 million 4G data customers to its network over last year, an increase of 10.8% YoY. Average data usage per data customer were at 20.3GBs/month.

The net debt-EBITDA ratio (annualized) and including the impact of leases as on 31 December 2022 is at 2.82 times.

Meanwhile, Africa revenue (in constant currency) were up 18.0% YoY. EBITDA margin were at 49.1%, down 56 bps YoY. EBIT margin at 33%, down 97 bps YoY. Customer base stands at 138.5 million. Capex for the quarter were at Rs 1,208 crore.

Gopal Vittal, MD, said: "We have delivered another quarter of consistent and competitive growth across all our businesses. Revenue grew sequentially by 3.7%, while EBITDA margin expanded to 52.0%. Our strategy of winning quality customers has helped us add 6.4 Mn 4G customers and exit the quarter with an industry leading ARPU of Rs 193. Postpaid, Enterprise, Homes as well as our Africa business sustained their momentum while the DTH business showed signs of growth in an industry that continues to be under pressure. Our overall performance is testimony to the breadth and diversity of our portfolio that spans across both geographies as well as businesses. Our 5G rollout is on track to cover all towns and key rural areas by March 2024."

Bharti Airtel is a global communications solutions provider with over 500 Mn customers in 17 countries across South Asia and Africa. Airtel's retail portfolio includes high speed 4G/5G mobile broadband, Airtel Xstream Fiber that promises speeds up to 1 Gbps with convergence across linear and on-demand entertainment, streaming services spanning music and video, digital payments and financial services.

Shares of Bharti Airtel fell 0.51% to Rs 785.35 on the BSE.