Shares of Bharti Airtel fell 3% to Rs 765.05 on the BSE in intraday trade on Wednesday, even as the company reported a 91.5% year-on-year rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 1,588 crore for the October-December 2022-23 (Q3FY23) led by revenue growth and 4G customer additions.

In the same quarter last year, Airtel posted a net profit of Rs 830 crore. However, net profit fell QoQ due to higher operating expenses and an allowance related to licensing fees of Rs 669 crore.

Shares of the telecom operator fell for a third day in a row, falling 4% in the period. However, at 11:37 am, the stock erased some of its daily losses, falling less than 1% to Rs 778, while the S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.7%. Trading volume on the counter doubled, with about 5.7 million shares changing hands on the NSE and BSE.

In the third quarter of FY23, Bharti Airtel’s total revenue rose by nearly 20% year-on-year to Rs 35,804 crore “on the back of strong and consistent performance delivery across the portfolio”, the company said in a statement.

The average revenue per user (ARPU) increased by 1.5% QoQ and 18.4% YoY to Rs.193. On an operational level, the company’s profit rose 24.8% year-on-year to Rs 186.01 billion, with the operating margin expanding 2.1 percentage points to 52%.

Bharti Airtel has underperformed the market over the past three months, falling 6% compared with a 1% drop in the S&P BSE Sensex. However, the stock has gained 10% over the past six months, compared with a 3% gain for the benchmark index. It corrected 13% from its all-time high of Rs 877 on November 25, 2022.