Telecom service provider Bharti Airtel today said its Q3 fiscal 2015 Capex (capital investment) has surged 60 percent to $729 million against $455 million in the same quarter in fiscal 2014.
Airtel’s Capex in Q2 fiscal 2015 was $616 million.
The company added 3,795 3G telecom sites in India. The number of 3G sites of Airtel in India was 41,850 in Q3 fiscal 2015 against 28,179 sites on 3G in Q3 fiscal 2014 and 38,055 in Q2 fiscal 2015.
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Airtel Capex in India
Bharti Airtel said its Capex in India rose 56 percent to Rs 2,709 crore. Out of this, Bharti Airtel Capex in mobile business grew 53 percent to Rs 2,074 crore. The increase in Capex in Airtel telemedia was 104 percent to Rs 168 crore. Digital TV services’ Capex rose 47 percent to Rs 163 crore. Capex in Airtel B2B increased 51 percent to Rs 37 crore.
The company invested on upgradation and expansion of network sites. In Q3 fiscal 2015, Airtel had 142,898 sites against 137,069 sites in the same quarter last year. Out of the total number, 29.3 percent are 3G sites.
Bharti Airtel – promoted by Sunil Mittal – said its mobile data customers rose 32.4 percent to 42.2 million. Mobile data customers now account for 19.5 percent of total customers.
The total MBs on the network has almost doubled to 77.3 billion MBs as compared to 39.9 billion MBs.
Mobile data usage per customer increased 38.3 percent to 622 MBs. Data ARPU increased 24.6 percent to Rs 170 from Rs 137.
Airtel India has 16.94 million 3G subscribers till December 2014, growing at 10 percent.
Airtel Capex in South Asia
Airtel’s South Asia business includes Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Capex in South Asia dipped 80 percent to Rs 42 crore.
Airtel Africa Capex
Airtel said its Capex in Africa surged 103 percent to $284 million. It added 1,124 3G sites in Africa. The total number of 3G sites in Africa was 9,228.
The company had 18,347 network sites as compared to 17,565. 3G sites at 9,228 represented 50.3 percent of the total sites as at the end of the quarter, as compared to 38.0 percent (6,675 sites) at the end of the corresponding quarter last year.
Airtel Africa said its data customers increased 38.1 percent to 27.1 million. Data customers represent 36.3 percent of customer base, as compared to 28.7 percent. Data traffic increased 76 percent to 9.5 billion MBs. Data usage per customer was 120.9 MBs as compared to 98.6 MBs in the corresponding quarter last year, an increase of 22.6 percent.
Baburajan K
editor@telecomlead.com
