Airtel Digital TV adds 913,000 subscribers in 2013

Wednesday, January 29th, 2014 

NEW DELHI, India — Bharti Airtel Limited (“Bharti Airtel” or “the Company”) today announced its audited consolidated IFRS results for the quarter ended December 31, 2013.

As on December 31, 2013, the Company had 287.4 million customers consisting of 275.2 million Mobile, 3.4 million Telemedia and 8.8 million Digital TV customers.

Digital TV Services

As on December 31, 2013, the Company had its Digital TV operations in 639 districts with 8.8 million customers, an increase of 11.6% as compared to corresponding quarter last year. Net customer additions for Digital TV during the quarter increased to 235 K as compared to 120 K in the previous quarter, primarily driven by festivities during the quarter. ARPU increased by Rs 21, to an all-time high of Rs 207, as compared to Rs 186 in the corresponding quarter last year.

The multiplier impact of increased customer additions and higher realisations during the quarter, pushed up revenues from Digital TV services by 25.8% to Rs 5,384 million as compared to Rs 4,280 million in the corresponding quarter last year.

Key Company Developments – Digital TV

Airtel Digital TV launched LIVE Tweets on TV – a revolutionary convergence of tweeting and television viewing. The concept is an innovation in the DTH industry across the world that allows customers to experience Twitter on TV.

SD+ Recorder launch: “SD recorder box with unlimited recording using an external pen-drive” launched in Oct‟13. Airtel Digital TV is now the only DTH player in country to offer recording on all types of its boxes.

Operational Performance – India – Digital TV

                      Dec 31,  Sep 30,  Jun 30,  Mar 31,  Dec 31,
                Unit     2013     2013     2013     2013     2012
               -----  -------  -------  -------  -------  -------
Customers      000's    8,807    8,572    8,452    8,100    7,894
Net additions  000's      235      120      352      207      439
ARPU              Rs      207      198      197      184      186
ARPU             US$      3.3      3.2      3.5      3.4      3.4
Monthly Churn      %     0.8%     1.0%     0.6%     1.1%     1.3%

Digital TV Services – Our Direct-To-Home (DTH) platform offers both standard and high definition (HD) digital TV services with 3D capabilities and Dolby surround sound. We currently offer a total of 394 channels including 19 HD channels and 4 interactive services.