MUMBAI: Telco giant Bharti Airtel’s direct-to-home (DTH) arm Airtel Digital TV’s total revenue increased to Rs 792.2 crore in the third quarter from Rs 789.3 crore in the previous quarter. The DTH operator’s EBITDA stood at Rs 544.1 crore for the quarter compared to Rs 560.7 crore in the trailing quarter.
“This quarter, we witnessed strong 4G customer additions of 2.1 crore. Digital TV revenue witnessed a growth of 15.6 per cent on an underlying basis (decline of 23.3 per cent on reported basis due to reporting changes in DTH pursuant to the new tariff order). Airtel business revenue witnessed a growth of 6.6 per cent on YoY basis,” the company said.
The DTH operator added 101,000 subscribers during the quarter compared to 181,000 in Q2. The average revenue per user (ARPU) remained flat at Rs 162 while the monthly churn increased to 1.8 per cenr from 1.6 per cent. During the current quarter, the company incurred a capital expenditure of Rs 350.9 crore.
Airtel Digital TV currently offers a total of 648 channels including 86 HD channels, 7 international channels and 4 interactive services. As on Dec 31, 2019, the operation was available in 639 districts.
Overall, the telecom major reported a consolidated loss of Rs 1,035 crore for December quarter compared with a profit of Rs 86 crore in the same period last year.
