Service shutdown impacted subscriber base in July-Sept. quarter

Bharti Airtel lost 2.5 million to 3 million subscribers in Jammu and Kashmir in the July-September 2019 quarter due to shutdown of mobile services in the region, said a senior company official.

“We lost a number of customers running into almost 2.5 million to 3 million in Jammu and Kashmir. This loss is not a permanent loss because of the way we define our revenue earning customer as revenue that we have earned in the preceding 30 days,” said Gopal Vittal, managing director and chief executive officer, India and South Asia, Bharti Airtel Limited, during a post-quarterly result call on October 30.

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Mr. Vittal added that the customers will come back the moment prepaid services are resumed in the region.

During the call, Badal Bagri, the company's chief financial officer for India and South Asia, also said that their overall subscriber base was impacted during the July-September quarter due to the shutdown of mobile services in Jammu and Kashmir.

The company’s subscriber base for mobile services in the country fell 15% year-on-year to about 279 million at the end of September 30, 2019.