iWorld
Bharti Airtel Q1 FY23 revenue up by 22.2 per cent; India revenue up by 23.8 per cent
Mumbai: Bharti Airtel on Monday reported its first quarter results for the financial year 2023. The company posted revenue of Rs 32,805 crore up by 22.2 per cent year-on-year (YoY). Its India business revenue stood at Rs 23,319 crore up by 23.8 per cent YoY.
Airtel’s consolidated net income after exceptional items stood at Rs 1,607 crore.
Airtel’s mobile services business revenue went up by 27.4 per cent YoY at Rs 18,220 crore led by an increase in average revenue per user (ARPU) and strong 4G customer additions. Airtel’s mobile ARPU increased to Rs 183 over Rs 146 in the corresponding quarter in FY22. Its 4G customers increased by 20.8 million YoY and 4.5 million quarter-on-quarter (QoQ).
The company reported that mobile data consumption per customer has increased by 16.6 per cent YoY and stood at 19.5 Gb per month.
Airtel Digital TV business reported an eight per cent decline in revenue at Rs 748.2 crore versus Rs 809.4 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. The company reported 17.4 million subscribers at the end of the quarter.
Airtel Homes business grew by 41.9 per cent YoY at Rs 926.5 crore led by net customer additions of 1.4 million during the quarter. Airtel Business revenue was up by 15.2 per cent YoY at Rs 4365.6 crore.
“This has been another solid quarter. We continue to deliver strong and sustained growth at 4.5 per cent sequentially,” said Bharti Airtel MD and CEO Gopal Vittal. “EBITDA margins are now at 50.6 per cent. Our enterprise and homes business has strong momentum and delivered strong double-digit growth, improving the diversity of the overall portfolio. Airtel’s strategy of winning with quality customers continues to yield good results with an industry beating ARPU at Rs 183.”
He further said, “As India gets ready to launch 5G, we are well positioned to raise the bar on innovation. We are also confident of meeting the emerging needs of discerning customers looking for speed, coverage and latency. Our astute spectrum strategy over the last few years as we bolstered mid band spectrum is designed to deliver the best experience at the lowest total cost of ownership.”
iWorld
Telcos push for unified rules as spam shifts to OTT platforms
Over 80 per cent fraud moves online, operators seek common framework.
MUMBAI: The spam may have left your phone network but it hasn’t left you alone. India’s telecom operators are once again dialling up the pressure for a unified regulatory framework, warning that fraud is rapidly migrating to internet-based platforms where oversight remains far looser. According to industry communication, a leading operator has written to multiple arms of the government including the Department of Telecommunications, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Ministry of Finance arguing that tighter controls on traditional telecom networks are inadvertently pushing bad actors towards over-the-top (OTT) communication platforms.
The concern is not new, but the framing has sharpened. What was once an industry grievance is now being positioned as a consumer protection issue. Operators say that tackling spam in silos no longer works, as fraudsters seamlessly shift across platforms, exploiting regulatory gaps. The result: a moving target that traditional safeguards struggle to contain.
Executives point to a clear shift in fraud patterns. OTT platforms are increasingly being used for phishing links, impersonation scams and bulk unsolicited messaging, with industry estimates suggesting that over 80 per cent of spam activity has now migrated online. In this environment, the lines between telecom networks, messaging apps and financial fraud are blurring fast.
At the heart of the industry’s demand is a call for a technology-neutral regulatory framework, one that applies consistently across telecom and internet-based communication services. Operators argue that the absence of uniform safeguards, such as sender verification systems, robust spam filters and clearly defined accountability mechanisms, has created enforcement blind spots that fraudsters are quick to exploit.
The proposal is straightforward but far-reaching. Telcos are pushing for baseline anti-fraud measures across all communication platforms, alongside faster response systems and deeper coordination between ministries. Given the interconnected nature of telecom networks, digital platforms and financial systems, they argue that fragmented oversight only weakens the overall defence.
The broader issue is regulatory arbitrage, the ability of bad actors to hop between platforms based on which is least regulated at any given time. Without harmonised rules, operators say, efforts to curb fraud risk becoming a game of whack-a-mole.
As digital communication continues to expand, the debate is shifting from who regulates what to how consistently it is regulated. For now, telecom operators are making their case clear: in a world where spam travels freely, regulation cannot afford to stay fragmented.
