Bharti Infratel, the mobile tower arm of Bharti Airtel, said it will initiate discussion with Reliance Industries to lease out its infrastructure.
“We would definitely be in talks with them, we would like to do more and more business with them. So as far as we are concerned... they are very credible customer, so we would definitely be in touch with them,” Bharti Infratel Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Akhil Gupta said.
Reliance Industries-backed Reliance Jio Infocomm is gearing up to launch 4G technology enabled broadband services for which it is looking for partners with whom it can share infrastructure.
Reliance has already done some deals on the under sea cable network and is now looking to finalise tower sharing agreements.
Bharti Infratel with over 82,000 towers could be one of the options.
Net Profit rises 34%
On Tuesday, Bharti Infratel reported a 34.3 per cent increase in its net profit to Rs 287 crore during the quarter ended of March 31, 2013 compared with Rs 214 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.
Revenue grew 11.3 per cent to Rs 2,674 crore. The sharing revenue per tower per month has increased marginally by 1.8 per cent to Rs 66,919.
To pay Rs 4/ share
The board of directors has proposed a full-year dividend of Rs 4/equity share for the year ended March 31, 2013 (including Interim dividend of Rs 1 a share already paid during the quarter ended September 30, 2012).
The total dividend payout inclusive of Rs 125 crore as tax on dividend will amount to Rs 865 crore.
“Despite relatively low capex deployment by telecom operators last year due to uncertainties in telecom sector, our results reflect the significant incremental gains from increased sharing of our infrastructure. With data growing at a fast pace and focused approach by new operators, we expect increased deployment of new networks by operators in the coming year,” Gupta said.
The company's stocks were down marginally by 0.92 per cent to Rs 177.25 at close on Tuesday on the BSE.
thomas.thomas@thehindu.co.in