Mumbai, Oct 31 (IANS): Mobile communications major Bharti Airtel Ltd on Monday said it closed the second quarter of FY23 with a higher net profit of Rs 2,978.9 crore.

According to Bharti Airtel, the company had posted a consolidated revenue of Rs 34,728.7 crore for Q2FY23 (against Rs 28,435.2 crore in Q2FY22) and a net profit of Rs 2,978.9 crore (Rs 1,998.1 crore in Q2FY22).

The company said its average revenue per user for the quarter under review stood at Rs 190 as compared to Rs 153 in Q2'22 owing to feature phone to smartphone upgradation and data monetisation.

Bharti Airtel's postpaid customer base stood at 31.6 million and 17.8 million for 4G service.

ARPU continues to be the best in industry, average data usage per data customer at 20.3 GBs/month and voice usage per customer at 1,082 mins/month.

MD and CEO, India & South Asia, Gopal Vittal said: "We are now rolling out 5G and are confident that Airtel 5G Plus will deliver the best experience in India while being kinder to the environment."

Vittal said the low return on capital employed is a matter of concern and there is a need for tariff correction as the pricing is the lowest in the world and large investments required to drive digital adoption in India.

During the quarter under review, the company increased its tower strength by about 8,000 towers and also became the first telecom operator in the country to roll out 5G service in eight Indian cities.

Bharti Airtel plans to cover all of urban and key rural areas of India by March 2024.