iWorld
Bharti Airtel revenues jump 22 per cent in Q2
NEW DELHI: Telecom operator Bharti Airtel announced its highest ever consolidated quarterly revenue, reporting a 22 per cent jump driven by higher tariffs and a rise in data usage from a Covid2019-fuelled shift to remote working.
India revenues for the quarter ended 30 September was at Rs 18,747 crore year on year while mobile revenues grew by 26 per cent. As a result, average revenue per user for the quarter rose to Rs 162, from Rs 128 last year.
Consolidated net loss for the quarter came in at Rs 763 crore, compared with a loss of Rs 23,045 crore a year earlier.
The company has continued to garner a strong share of the 4G net adds in the market. 4G data customers increased by 48.1 per cent to 152.7 million compared to the previous year while traffic increased to 77.3 PB/day vs 48.9 PB/day in the corresponding quarter last year. Consolidated mobile data traffic was at 7,403 PBs in the quarter with a healthy YoY growth of 58.8 per cent.
As for engagement parameters, average data usage per data subscriber stood at 16.0 GBs/month; while voice usage was at 1,005 mins per user per month.
Homes business segment witnessed a revenue growth of 7.3 per cent YoY. The company added over 129,000 customers during the quarter to reach a total base of 2.58 million. It re-calibrated its offering and launched Xstream bundled with content and unlimited internet to accelerate penetration. The company signed on many more LCO partnerships in non-wired cities, extending the model to 48 cities. The company also focused on fast-track network expansion by rolling out fibre home passes and upgrading existing copper network during the quarter.
Airtel Business clocked a growth rate of 7.5 per cent YoY, driven by data demand across global business and enterprise and government business. To further leverage growth from “Work from Home”, Airtel BlueJeans, Airtel Secure, Airtel Cloud and Airtel IQ were launched to meet the specific needs of B2B customers.
Airtel MD & CEO India & South Asia Gopal Vittal said, “Despite being a seasonally weak quarter, we delivered a strong performance with revenue growing at 22 per cent YoY. In the mobile segment, we added over 14 million 4G customers and grew revenues by 26 per cent. Our data consumption grew by 58 per cent YoY which reflects strong engagement of customers on our network. Other lines of business also continued with steady growth momentum, with Airtel Business growing 7.5 per cent YoY.”
Digital TV witnessed a growth of 1.9 per cent YoY on an underlying basis, on the back of strong customer additions of 549,000 during the quarter. Airtel continued to expand its channel portfolio and is also working with educational institutions to broadcast classes to students to ensure education is not disrupted.
In the digital services segment, Airtel now has 160 million digitally engaged users. On Wynk, it’s now #1 in terms of MAUs (59.3 million in Q2’21) with an addition of 9 million during the quarter; Thanks platform has 81.6 million MAUs in Q2, with an addition of 8 million and Airtel Xstream is at 33.7 million MAUs, addition of 8 million users during the quarter.
Consolidated EBITDA witnessed an increase of 32.6 per cent YoY to Rs 11,848 crore in Q2’21. This led to an improvement in EBITDA margin from 42.3 per cent in Q2’20 to 46.0per cent in Q2’21. Incremental EBITDA margins across businesses remained healthy, with mobile services EBITDA improving from 36.3 per cent in Q2’20 to 42.6 per cent in Q2’21.
iWorld
Netflix cuts jobs in product division amid restructuring
Layoffs hit creative studio unit as leadership and strategy shifts unfold.
MUMBAI: The streaming wars may be fought on screen, but the latest plot twist is unfolding behind the scenes. Netflix has reportedly begun laying off several dozen employees from its product division as part of an internal reorganisation, according to a report by Variety. The cuts are believed to have primarily affected the company’s creative studio unit, which works on marketing assets such as in app trailers, promotional visuals and live experience content for the streaming platform.
The company has not disclosed the exact number of employees impacted.
According to the report, the layoffs were not tied to employee performance. Instead, the restructuring eliminated certain roles while other employees were reassigned to different teams within the organisation.
The roles affected are understood to include designers, producers and creative specialists responsible for marketing and brand experience initiatives.
The job cuts come as Netflix adjusts its leadership structure and reshapes its product and creative teams. Last month, Elizabeth Stone was promoted from chief technology officer to chief product and technology officer, giving her oversight of product, engineering and data operations across the company.
Earlier, in December 2025, Netflix also appointed Martin Rose as head of creative for global brand and partnerships, a move seen as part of a broader restructuring of the company’s brand and product functions.
Despite the layoffs, Netflix remains one of the largest employers in the streaming sector. The company is estimated to employ around 16,000 people globally, with roughly 70 percent of its workforce based in the United States and Canada. In 2023, the company reported approximately 13,000 employees, indicating that its headcount had grown significantly before the latest restructuring.
The workforce changes arrive at a time when Netflix is navigating a shifting financial and strategic landscape in the global entertainment industry.
The streaming giant recently secured $2.8 billion in additional cash after receiving a breakup fee from Paramount Skydance following its withdrawal from a deal involving Warner Bros. Discovery.
Speaking to Bloomberg, Netflix co chief executive Ted Sarandos explained that the company had evaluated multiple scenarios during the negotiations but chose not to match the competing offer once it learned that a higher bid had been submitted.
Netflix had capped its offer at $27.75 per share and ultimately stepped back rather than pursue Paramount’s $111 billion acquisition deal, which included a personal guarantee.
Sarandos also cautioned that the financing structure behind the Paramount Skydance transaction could have ripple effects across the entertainment industry.
According to him, the debt heavy deal could trigger significant cost cutting, with David Ellison, chief executive of Paramount Skydance, expected to eliminate about $16 billion in costs and potentially cut thousands of jobs as part of the integration process.
For Netflix, the current restructuring appears to be part of a broader attempt to streamline operations while continuing to invest in product, technology and global content even as the streaming industry enters a new phase of consolidation and financial discipline.
