India's Bharti Airtel said its Q3 profit fell 72% to 2.84 billion rupees ($532.2 million), blaming price pressures and rising costs.
India's largest mobile operator reported revenue for the December quarter of 202.39 billion rupees, up 9.5% from a year earlier.
But costs including increased interest on borrowings and tax provisions, as well as forex losses, dragged down the bottom line.
The company's total mobile customer base reached 251.1 million by end-December, up 7.8% year-on-year, but down 0.3% sequentially. While subscribers in India and South Asia fell 1.9% from Q2 to 193.1 million, its subscriber base in Africa grew 5.1% over the same period.
LiveMintnotes that the operator's performance in the third quarter shows its progressive moves to raise rates after a long period of unsustainable price cutting have yet to improve the operator's profitability.
Weeks after the quarter ended, Bharti Airtel moved to nearly double its base voice rates in its latest attempt at price rationalization.
“Market conditions have been challenging in recent quarters due to pricing pressures and rising input costs, which have put enormous pressure on the sector and consequently the margins,” Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said.
But he added that the situation is starting to improve. “The worst seems to be getting over, with corrections taking place in customer acquisition practices and the tariffs, which are driving quality of acquisitions and improving efficiencies,” he said.