Bharti Airtel, a leading integrated telecommunications company announced on Thursday a rise in second quarter profit of 2.70 times to Rs 13.83 billion for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2014 as compared to net profit Rs 5.12 billion in the same period last year.
 
Consolidated net sales was at Rs 228.62 billion for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2014 as compared to Rs 213.43 billion in the same period last year, representing an increase of 7.12%.
 
Consolidated EBITDA at Rs 77.05 billion, up by 12.1% Y-o-Y while EBITDA margin up 1.5% Y-o-Y.

Customer base crosses mark of 300 million and stands at 303.7 million across 20 countries, up 8.4% Y-o-Y.

Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO, India & South Asia, said, ''Airtel's revenue growth in India has further accelerated to 12.3% in Q2. We continue to see strong momentum in mobile data which has grown by 74% in this quarter. Airtel's pioneering 4G roll-out in 15 cities is now witnessing stronger customer acceptance. On the regulatory front, the recent TRAI recommendations on making more contiguous spectrum available in the upcoming auctions have the potential of transforming the industry. We believe that this is critical to realise the exciting vision of Digital India that the  Government has articulated.''

Christian de Faria, MD and CEO, Africa, said, ''I am delighted to note that mobile data revenues in Africa have grown by 57% Y-o-Y to clock USD 115 million in this quarter, which is now 10% of the total revenues. Our robust 3G networks have supported the doubling of data volumes Y-o-Y, and we have been gearing up for much more growth. Airtel money transaction values have also crossed USD 1 billion a month. More than 5 million customers are carrying out a daily average of 1.4 million transactions on Airtel Money. We are delighted to be in the forefront of this twin opportunity-mobile data and m-commerce, both of which have enormous potential to change quality of lives of people in Africa. The contraction in voice revenues in Q2 and the consequent pressure on EBITDA were mainly due to seasonal and regulatory factors, and the impact of both was somewhat more pronounced than what we anticipated. We are optimistic about the potential in Africa, despite these aberrations.''

Shares of the company gained Rs 2.35, or 0.58%, to settle at Rs 407.50. The total volume of shares traded was 195,854 at the BSE (Thursday).