Bharti Airtel posts ₹2,866 cr loss in Q1 FY20 against profit of ₹97 cr a year ago

Telecom operator Bharti Airtel on Thursday posted a staggering ₹2,866 crore loss for the first quarter of FY 2020, amid a fierce competition unleashed in the Indian telecom market by rival Reliance Jio.

Airtel had logged a net profit of ₹97 crore in the same period of the previous year, Bharti Airtel said in a statement.

The revenue of the Sunil Mittal-led company rose 4.7 per cent to ₹20,738 crore during the first quarter ended June 2019 as against ₹19,799 crore in the year-ago period.

For the June quarter, Airtel's India Average Revenue Per User - a key performance metric of mobile phone operators - stood at ₹129 against ₹123 in the March quarter.

Commenting on the earnings, Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO (India and South Asia), Bharti Airtel said the first quarter of the year has begun with a "healthy and equitable growth across all our lines of businesses".

"Headline pricing remained stable, albeit at low levels. We continue to remain focused on providing value to customers through our rewards platform, Airtel Thanks. This has led to the second consecutive quarter of ARPU increase," he said.