KOLKATA: Telecom operator Bharti Airtel (Airtel) has posted Rs 26,518 crore consolidated revenue in Q3, logging a 24 per cent year-on-year growth. Its digital TV segment, the third largest DTH service in the country, has reported Rs 789.2 crore in revenue, compared to Rs 792.2 crore in the same quarter last year. The digital TV business added 485,000 customers in the quarter, making up a 17.9 million-strong base.

“Digital TV witnessed a growth of 5.8 per cent year-on-year on an underlying basis, on the back of strong customer additions of 485K during the quarter. We continue to make progress through innovative propositions and differential experience to accelerate the business growth,” the company stated.

The home business segment has registered a revenue growth of 2.3 per cent year-on-year with highest ever customer additions of 215,000 during the quarter to reach a total base of 2.79 million. The company has further scaled up the LCO partnership model to expand its footprint in non-wired cities, extending the model to over 120 cities.

India revenues for the third quarter rose by 25.1 per cent year-on-year to Rs 19,007 crore. Mobile revenues grew by 32.4 per cent year-on-year on account of the improved realisations as well as strong customer addition. ARPU for the quarter came in at Rs 166 as compared to Rs 135 in the third quarter, an outcome of our focus on acquiring quality customers as well as secular upgrading of customers to data.

The telco has continued to garner a strong share of the 4G net ads in the market. 4G data customers increased by 33.8 per cent year-on-year to 165.6 million compared to the previous year. Over the last four quarters, the company has added 42 million 4G customers to its network.

The company’s average revenue per user in the quarter increased to Rs 166, which was higher than analysts’ estimates, up from to Rs 162 in the previous quarter.

“Despite the unprecedented volatility that we have confronted through the year, we delivered another strong performance this quarter. This consistency in performance was across every part of our portfolio, as reflected in market share growth across all our business segments. This has been made possible due to our agility, the continued re-orientation of our business model and our relentless focus on what truly matters – serving our customers,” Airtel India and South Asia MD and CEO Gopal Vittal said.

“The main highlight of the quarter was the 13 million 4G customers we added in our wireless business. As a result, we grew our revenues by 25 per cent over the same period last year and margins expanded. We are also proud to have become India’s first telco to have demonstrated a live 5G service over a commercial network in Hyderabad city. This reaffirms our strategy to win with quality customers,” he added.