Bharti Infratel Q1 net up over 67% at Rs 358 cr

Revenue for the quarter increased 9% to Rs 2,622 crore as against Rs 2,417 crore q-on-q basis

Telecom tower company Bharti Infratel, on Monday, reported 67.6% rise in net profit at Rs 358 crore during April-June quarter, as compared to Rs 213 crore reported during the corresponding quarter previous fiscal year.

The company reported a better than analysts’ estimates performance during the quarter on higher sales from infrastructure leasing to cellular service providers.
Revenue for the quarter increased 9% to Rs 2,622 crore as against Rs 2,417 crore reported during the same quarter previous fiscal year.

“Despite relatively low capex deployment by operators in the current quarter, we had significant incremental financial gains from increased sharing of our infrastructure. 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 some early indications of plans to roll out 4G during the year, we expect deployment and hence infrastructure sharing to pick up in the coming quarters,” Bharti Infratel vice chairman and managing director Akhil Gupta said in a statement.

The company’s consolidated EBIDTA rose 19% to Rs 1,055 crore during the quarter under review. Its consolidated operating cash flow jumped 65% to Rs 673 crore during April-June quarter, from Rs 408 crore during the corresponding quarter previous fiscal year.

Bharti Infratel has added 2,869 new mobile towers during the quarter, and tenancy has slightly increased to 1.91 at the end of June 2013, from 1.9 during the same period previous fiscal year.