Mumbai, July 31:  Bharti Airtel Ltd (BRTI.NS) reported 9.6 percent fall in quarterly profit on higher costs and foreign exchange losses, the 14th consecutive quarter of declining profits for India's top telecommunications carrier.

Bharti Airtel, the world's fourth-biggest cellular carrier by customers, said net profit fell to 6.89 billion rupees for its fiscal first quarter to end-June, from 7.62 billion rupees reported a year earlier.

Despite the decline, the results beat expectations. Analysts had expected the company to report net profit of 6.57 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Bharti Airtel, which is nearly a third owned by Southeast Asia's top phone carrier, SingTel (STEL.SI), operates across 20 countries in Asia and Africa.