Mumbai, April 28 (Inditop.com) The net profit of Bharti Airtel, the country’s largest mobile service provider, dropped eight percent to Rs.2,055 crore for the quarter ended March compared to Rs.2,239 crore in the year-ago period.

Stiff competition among existing and new entrants has seen players slash call rates and introduce schemes like per second billing, which has eaten into the margins of telecom players across the industry.

Total revenues during January-March, however, rose a modest two percent to Rs.10,055.7 crore. During the quarter, Bharti added 8.8 million mobile users.

The Bharti scrip fell by two percent during morning trade to Rs.292 before recovering to Rs.298.10 around 11 a.m.

However, for the fiscal 2009-10, the company’s net profit rose seven percent to Rs.9,102.6 crore compared to Rs.8,469.9 crore in the financial year before that. Total revenues also grew by seven percent to Rs.39,615 crore.