The last time Bharti Airtel reported a loss was in the December 2002 quarter, when the figure came in at a negative Rs 70.70 million.
The changed dynamics in telecom sector due to the entry of Mukesh Ambani owned Reliance Jio might led to the first quartely loss of Sunil Mittal's firm in 15 years. Airtel's constant falling revenues because of an intense price war in the industry has made it difficult for the firm to cope up. However, Airtel is putting in its all efforts to give a fight in the neck and neck competition.
But giving the current scenario, experts believe that Bharti Airtel after reporting 39.3 per cent drop in consolidated net profit for the third quarter of the FY18, it could end up posting a loss in the March quarter, a first in 60 quarters (or 15 years) on falling revenue and rising costs.
The last time the firm reported a loss was in the December 2002 quarter, when the figure came in at a negative Rs 70.70 million.
For Q3, Airtel had posted net profit of Rs 306 crore for the third quarter of 2017-18 compared to Rs 504 crore posted during the corresponding period in 2016-17.
The total revenue of the company stood at Rs 20,319 crore for the third quarter of 2017-18 compared to Rs 23,336 crore posted during the third quarter of 2016-17. It was a drop of 12.9 per cent.
Meanwhile, for Reliance Jio the picture is still rosy and will remain like this at least for near future, experts say. The Ambani's firm had posted its first-ever net profit of Rs 504 crore for the three months period ended December 2017, the second quarter of commercial operations. The company had incurred a loss of Rs 271 crore in the September quarter.
The revenue from operations came in at Rs 6,879 crore, 11.9 per cent growth over the previous quarter. The earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA)- at Rs 2,628 crore - was 82.1 per cent more than the sequential quarter. The operating profit margin improved quarter-over-quarter to 38.2 per cent. Jio's subscriber base as on December 31, 2017 stood at 160.1 million.
Reliance Jio entered the highly-competitive telecom sector in September 2016 with a six-month promotional offer of free voice and data, a strategy that helped it mobilise millions of users.Jio threw an open challenge to the incumbent telecom operators with its disruptive tariffs, triggering a price war that saw severe bloodletting in the sector in following months.
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 "bharti airtel, mukesh ambani, sunil mittal, March quarter, Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea, Q4 earnings")
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