India's Bharti Airtel beats Q1 revenue view on subscriber growth, tariff hikes

BENGALURU, Aug 3 (Reuters) - Indian telecom major Bharti Airtel (BRTI.NS) reported a bigger-than-expected first-quarter revenue on Thursday, helped by the steady addition of 4G subscribers and tariff hikes.

Consolidated revenue from operations rose 14.1% to 374.40 billion rupees ($4.53 billion) for the quarter ended June 30, the company said in a filing.

Analysts, on average, had expected revenue of 366.24 billion rupees, according to Refinitiv IBES data.

Airtels average revenue per user (ARPU), a key metric for telecommunication companies, rose over 9% year-on-year to 200 rupees, up 3.6% from its previous quarter, thanks to its much-anticipated tariff hikes.

The company also added 5.6 million 4G subscribers during the quarter, with its total 4G customer count growing 2.5% from the previous quarter and 11.9% from a year ago to 229.7 million.

Market leader Reliance Jio, the telecommunication arm of conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd (RELI.NS), said last month its ARPU grew 2.8% year-on-year to 180.5 rupees.

It posted its slowest revenue and profit growth in six quarters due to stagnant tariff prices, Jio added.

Indian telecom companies had been recording slower-than-expected revenue growth in recent quarters, groaning under the load of massive 5G spectrum spends.

Airtel shares ended 0.7% lower ahead of the results. They have risen over 8% so far this year.

($1 = 82.6960 Indian rupees)