Bharti Profit Disappoints as Africa Business Continues to Drag

Bharti Airtel Ltd. reported lower-than-expected quarterly profit as increased revenue from high-paying India subscribers failed to offset the continued drag in its Africa business.

Net income at India’s second-largest wireless operator firm, led by billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal, surged 53% to 24.4 billion rupees ($294 million) for the quarter ended Dec. 31 compared with the same period last year, according to an exchange filing Monday. That still fell short of the average 25.96-billion-rupee profit estimated by analysts in a Bloomberg survey.

Revenue, which missed estimates, rose 5.9% to 379 billion rupees, while total costs were up 4.2% to 180.8 ...