Telecom tower operator Bharti Infratel has posted a 68 per cent rise in consolidated net profit of Rs 358 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2013. The company had recorded a net profit of Rs 213 crore during the same quarter a year ago.
Revenues at Bharti Infratel, the tower arm of the country’s largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel, rose 8.5 per cent to Rs 2,622 crore, compared with Rs 2,417 crore recorded during the same period a year ago.
“…despite relatively low capex deployment by operators in the current quarter, we had significant incremental financial gains from increased sharing of our infrastructure,” said Akhil Gupta, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director at Bharti Infratel.
During the reporting period, its consolidated EBITDA (operating profits) rose 19 per cent to Rs 1,055 crore (Rs 886 crore).
Bharti Infratel had a total of 82,321 towers as of June 30.
“With regulatory environment in telecom showing signs of settling down, focused roll out approach by new operators, faster 3G rollouts by existing operators as a result of strong data growth across the country and plans to roll out 4G during the year, we expect deployment and hence infrastructure sharing to pick up in the coming quarters,” Gupta added.
On Monday, shares in the company closed down 2.39 per cent to Rs 145.05 on the BSE.
rajesh.kurup@thehindu.co.in