Bharti Airtel Q4 net zooms 98 per cent

New Delhi, Apr 27: Leading private telecom major Bharti Airtel today announced a revised capex of 3.5 billion dollars for fiscal 2007-08 for a bigger roll-out during the year, while posting a 98 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 1,353 crore for Q4FY07 from Rs 682 crore a year ago.

Bharti added 5.3 million subscribers during the quarter while its revenues for the January-March quarter climbed 58 per cent to stand at Rs 5,393 crore.

The company, which gets majority of its revenue from its GSM mobile users, provides services in all 23 zones in the country and will set up 30,000 sites during the fiscal for deeper penetration in rural areas.

''We will set up 30,000 stations in 2007-08 in addition to the existing 40,000 sites. About 60-65 per cent of these will be in the rural areas. We have also revised our capital expenditure (capex) for the fiscal to 3-3.5 billion dollars,'' Bharti Airtel Chairman and Managing Director Sunil Mittal told reporters here.

The company posted an increase of 89 per cent in its annual net profit at Rs 4,257 crore over 2005-06 while its total revenues during the fiscal were up by 59 per cent year-on-year at Rs 18,520 crore. Bharti's overall subscriber base crossed 39 million during 2006-07 with a net addition of 5.3 million in Q4FY07. It added 18 million customers during fiscal 2006-07.

Bharti Airtel riding on network expansion and volume growth via low calling rates posted a cash profit of Rs 2,193 crore during the fourth quarter, which is an increase of 82 per cent year-on-year. While for the fiscal 2007 the cash profit stood at Rs 7,307 crore an increase of 79 per cent year on year.

The blended monthly usages per customer in the fourth quarter ended March was at 475 minutes, an increase of 2 per cent over the quarter ended December.

UNI