Bharti Airtel had posted a loss of ₹763 crore in corresponding quarter of last year.

Its revenue from operations rose 5.4% to ₹28,326 crore as compared to ₹26,853 crore in the June quarter of current fiscal. On a year-on-year basis, the revenues rose 13% as against ₹25,060 crore in last year period.

“We continue to maintain high degree of financial flexibility. As a result, we have now achieved Nil bank debt for our India businesses. We will continue to evaluate all options to maintain comfortable leverage profile and manage associated costs,” said Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO of Bharti Airtel in a statement.

The company’s consolidated EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) rose 24% year-on-year to ₹14,018 crore for the September quarter, with EBITDA margin at 49.5%, an improvement of 456 basis points year-on-year.

Average revenue per user (ARPU) improved to ₹153 in second quarter as against ₹143 in the previous year period.

Segment wise, revenues from the mobile services India business came in at ₹15,191 crore, up 20.3% year-on-year on comparable basis on account of continual growth in 4G customer base and increase in ARPU.

Meanwhile, the mobile service revenues from Africa business came in at ₹8,591 crore in the second quarter of current fiscal.

The Homes business continued to demonstrate strong performance and clocked a double digit revenue growth of 21.3% over last year, while digital TV revenue was up by 5.7% year-on-year in the second quarter, strengthening its market standing.

In the reporting quarter, homes business witnessed highest ever customer net additions of 4,67,000. Meanwhile, digital TV customer base at stands 18 million at the end of September quarter

“Our strategy of focusing on quality customers has been validated by the strong price flow and ARPU increase that we have seen in our wireless business. The step up in performance of our enterprise and homes business reflects the resilience and strength of our overall portfolio. Even more exciting is the way our new businesses – Airtel Payments Bank, Data Centres and revenues from digital services are shaping up. With a future proofed 5G network, we are well positioned to build a strong Airtel of the future,” Vittal added.

Airtel added 8.1 million 4G customers during the reporting quarter, taking the total to 192.5 million and they constitute about 60% of overall customer base.

Over the last four quarters, the company has added 39.9 million 4G customers to its network.

The company said Airtel Payments Bank has turned profitable during the quarter under review.

On Tuesday, ahead of the results, Airtel shares rose 0.43% to settle at ₹715.55 apiece on NSE. So far in 2021, the scrip has surged 41% and it has rallied over 60% in the past one year as against a 27% and 51% rise in Nifty index respectively.