Bharti Airtel's DTH biz grows 6% to Rs 797.9 crore in Q2

Bharti Airtel's revenue from its direct to home (DTH) service Airtel Digital TV has increased 6% to Rs 797.9 crore for the quarter ended 30th September, compared to Rs 754.8 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. In the trailing quarter, the DTH operator's revenue stood at Rs 809.5 crore.

Reported EBITDA for this segment was down 1% to Rs 531.4 crore, as compared to Rs 535.1 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. The EBITDA was Rs 542.1 crore in the previous quarter. The reported EBITDA margin was at 66.6% in the current quarter, as compared to 70.9% in the corresponding quarter last year and 67.0% in the previous quarter.

Reported EBIT for the quarter was Rs 220.4 crore, as compared to Rs 294.5 crore in the corresponding quarter last year and Rs 269.9 crore in the previous quarter. The resultant EBIT margin was at 27.6%, as compared to 39.0% in the corresponding quarter last year and 33.3% in the previous quarter.

During the quarter, the company incurred a capital expenditure of Rs 257.9 crore.

The customer base of the company stood at 18 million at the end of Q2’22, a growth of 3.5% YoY from 17.4 million in the corresponding quarter last year. ARPU for the quarter was at Rs 148, flat as compared to corresponding quarter last year.

As on September 30, 2021, the company had its Digital TV operations in 639 districts. Currently, Airtel Digital TV offers a total of 667 channels including 85 HD channels (including 2 HD SVOD services), 54 SVOD services, 7 international channels and 4 interactive services.

The company provides fixed-line telephone and broadband services for homes in 523 cities (including LCOs) in pan-India. The product offerings include high-speed broadband on copper and fibre and voice connectivity, up to speeds of 1 Gbps for the home segment.

Homes business segment witnessed a revenue growth of 21.3% YoY with the highest ever customer net additions of  467 K during the quarter to reach to a total base of 3.8 million.