Faced with sluggish growth in the tower-rental business in India, Viom Networks is exploring opportunities abroad to enter into third-party tower-management services.
Also on the cards is expansion of in-building mobile communication services used in large public infrastructure such as airport, and shopping mall
The pace of cellular tower roll-out has declined to 8,000 a year in 2011-12 compared with 14,000 in the previous year.
Overseas markets
According to Mr Sunil Kanoria, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, the company is eyeing foreign markets such as Africa, West Asia, South-East Asia and South Asia for its third-party-managed services.
“Managed services will bring in a fee-based income. Training of employees is already on. Things are expected to materialise this year (2012-13).”. He, however, did not mention the revenue that the company was targeting from such services.
Viom is the country's second largest cellular tower provider. It is a joint venture between Tata Teleservices and an investor group led by Kolkata-headquartered SREI group. The SREI group through its wholly owned subsidiary, Quippo, has a 14.5 per cent stake in Viom.
It has nearly 40,000 towers in the country and a tenant-per-tower ratio of 2.4.
Currently, 40 per cent of Viom's tower rentals are from Tatas followed by Uninor which accounts for nearly 20 per cent.
Hit by around 1 per cent decline in revenues, following the cancellation of 2G licences of new players like S-Tel, the company has decided to strengthen its in-building connectivity solutions. Viom is looking to shore up its income by renting out the in-building solutions to mobile operators.
It already offers such services at the Mumbai airport and for GMR at the Delhi airport.
Tenancy
The other alternative for Viom, Mr Kanoria said, is to ensure higher tenancy. According to him, congestion in the networks will lead to operators seeking infant sites (new areas) with less congestion.
“We expect our tenancy to grow anywhere between 5 per cent and 7 percent with a need for infant sites by operators,” Mr Kanoria said, adding that the company should break even this fiscal.
Viom intends to add around 2,000 towers across the country during the financial year.
The company is also planning to cut back on costs, through its restructuring exercise.