Bharti Infratel Q1 Net Up 39% At Rs 887 crore, Revenue Remains Flat

Telecom tower infrastructure provider Bharti Infratel on Wednesday reported a 39 per cent jump in its net profit for the quarter ended June 30 at Rs 887 crore. The company recorded a net profit of Rs 638 crore in the year-ago period.

The consolidated revenue, however, remained flat at Rs 3,712 crore during the quarter from Rs 3,674 crore in the corresponding period of 2018-19.

“We are pleased to note that after negative trend in net co-locations for the past six consecutive quarters due to consolidation in the telecom industry, we had net additions in co-locations this quarter,” said Akhil Gupta, chairman, Bharti Infratel.

He added: “We hope and believe that this trend will continue as the operators after the consolidation and raising of significant capital recently will focus on fresh rollouts of networks to increase both coverage and capacity which is the need of the hour.”

During the quarter, the company reported reduction in 956 co-locations, which represent the number of base stations per tower.

Bharti Infratel said as on June 30, 2019, there were cumulative 3,566 co-locations for which it received exit notices from telecom operators but actual exits had not happened. The company recorded an increase of 873 mobile towers on a year-on-year basis to 92,632 at the end of June 2019, from 91,759 a year ago.

However, the co-locations reduced by 27,531 to 173,247.

With the reduction in overall tariffs and restrictions placed by various local regulatory bodies on the installation of telecom towers, infrastructure sharing amongst service providers has become the norm rather than the exception in the Indian telecommunications industry, the company observed.

A strong focus on optimization of operational expenses through the outsourcing of non-core areas, process innovation, cost-to-serve alignment and strategic partnerships has also resulted in steady growth of the Tower Industry. Today, all operators prefer to lease towers from tower companies rather than build them for captive use.―Business Standard