MUMBAI: Bharti Airtel‘s direct-to-home (DTH) television arm Airtel digital TV has swung back into operating profit after posting a loss in the fiscal-first quarter, while its net subscriber addition in the second quarter dropped substantially.
Airtel digital had slipped into operating loss in the first quarter as it made net addition of 172,000 subscribers, after four straight quarters of operating profit. In the second quarter this year, its net subscriber addition was 55,000.
Airtel digital‘s operating profit in the second quarter was Rs 33 million against operating loss of Rs 23 million in the previous quarter. The operating profit in the second quarter was, however, down 72 per cent from Rs 116 million a year earlier.
The company also narrowed its net loss in the second quarter to Rs 2.42 billion from Rs 2.19 billion a quarter earlier. Its net loss in the second quarter of previous year was Rs 1.55 billion.
The company‘s revenue grew 7.67 per cent to Rs 3.93 billion in the second quarter from Rs 3.65 billion in the preceding quarter. On year-on-year basis, the company‘s revenues grew 26 per cent from Rs 3.13 billion.
The company‘s total subscriber base grew one per cent to 7.45 million from 7.4 million at the end of the first quarter. The subscriber base is up 12.7 per cent from 6.61 million a year earlier.
Airtel digital‘s average revenue per use (ARPU) rose 6 per cent to Rs 177 in the second quarter from Rs 166. Its monthly churn in subscriber base in the second quarter rose to 1.9 per cent from 1.7 per cent in the previous quarter.
The DTH service provider says it is the first company in India to provide real integration of all the three screens -- television, mobile and computer -- enabling its customers to record their favourite TV programmes through mobile and web. Airtel digital offers a total of 304 channels including 15 HD channels and 5 interactive services.
The company‘s capital expenditure almost halved to Rs 1.63 billion from Rs 3.24 billion in the first quarter. Its capex in the first quarter was 37 per cent lower than Rs 2.61 billion a year earlier.
As on 30 September, Airtel digital‘s cumulative investments were Rs 37.87 billion.
