Indian operator Bharti Airtel has seen its net income rise by 115 per cent year on year for its fiscal third quarter, ending December 31^st 2013. Consolidated revenue also rose by 13.3 per cent to reach INR219,390m ($3.51bn).

Net income surged from INR2.84bn in 3Q12 to INR6.1bn in 3Q13, as the operator was able to raise revenues from India by 10.3 per cent and internationally by 18.5 per cent.

The number of subscribers in India using data services grew 31.2 per cent year on year to 54.4 million while the operator saw a 54.4 per cent increase in data usage per customers, resulting in a 97 per cent increase in total data traffic compared with 3Q12.

Bharti Airtel’s Africa business saw a 17.2 per cent growth and South Asia revenues increased 44.8 per cent.

“Our efforts over the last 12 months to improve the quality of customer acquisitions have resulted in significant reduction in customer churn,” said Gopal Vittal, CEO of Airtel India. “Our focus on superior internet experience has resulted in increased data adoption and usage. Data is now a huge source of revenue growth.”

Manoj Kohli, MD and CEO of the operator’s International Operations, added that Africa saw a quarter of strong growth in 3G and Airtel Money services across all its markets.

“We expect this trend to sustain due to large investments in brand and network,” he added. “The market growth came back in Nigeria which is the largest telecom market in the continent.”