Bharti Airtel Posts Profit Miss as 5G Rollout Gets Underway

Bharti Airtel Ltd. reported a lower-than-expected quarterly profit, flagging a headwind for India’s No.2 wireless operator .

Bharti Airtel Ltd. reported a lower-than-expected quarterly profit. (Bloomberg)

Bharti Airtel Ltd. reported a lower-than-expected quarterly profit, flagging a headwind for India's No.2 wireless operator as it begins to roll out 5G services across the country.

The carrier, led by billionaire Sunil Mittal, posted a 90% jump in net income of 21.5 billion rupees ($260 million) for the quarter ended Sep. 30, according to an exchange filing Monday. But it missed the 25.44 billion-rupee average profit estimated by analysts in a Bloomberg survey.

Revenue rose 22% to 345.3 billion rupees, beating estimates. Total costs advanced 17% to 169.3 billion rupees compared with the same period last year, the filing said.