Bharti Airtel Q2 net up 13 pct, lags forecast

NEW DELHI, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Bharti Airtel Ltd, India's top mobile operator, on Friday reported a 13 percent rise in quarterly profit that lagged analysts' estimates as an increasing number of low-paying users and price competition weighed.

New Delhi-based Bharti, in which Southeast Asia's top phone firm SingTel (STEL.SI) owns more than 30 percent, said net profit rose to 23.21 billion rupees ($495 million) under U.S. accounting rules in its fiscal second-quarter ended September from 20.46 billion reported a year earlier.

Revenue rose 9 percent to 98.46 billion rupees from 90.20 billion.

A Reuters poll of 11 brokerages had forecast a net profit of 24.41 billion rupees on revenue of 103.55 billion for Bharti, which added 8.1 million mobile users in the quarter to take its customer base to 110.5 million.

India's mobile industry, the world's fastest-growing major market, is becoming increasingly competitive, with existing players cutting rates to attract subscribers before four new firms start operation this year.

Bharti shares have lost nearly a quarter in October, while second-ranked Reliance Communications is down by almost a third in the face of the price war. Bharti shares gained 4.4 percent in the September quarter, underperforming the broader market .BSESN. ($1=46.9 rupees) (Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Jarshad Kakkrakandy)