Bharti Infratel Q2 net profit rises 12%

Revenue rises 5% from a year earlier to Rs 2,684 crore

Telecommunications tower operator Bharti Infratel Ltd reported on Monday a 12% rise in quarterly profit on higher sales from leasing mobile masts to carriers.

Bharti Infratel, majority owned by India's top telecommunications carrier Bharti Airtel Ltd, said consolidated net profit rose to Rs 277 crore for its fiscal second quarter ended September 30 from Rs 248 crore reported a year earlier.

Revenue rose 5% from a year earlier to Rs 2,684 crore, the New Delhi-based company said.

Four analysts on average expected the company to report a profit of Rs 354 crore, while the average revenue estimate of five analysts was Rs 2,716 crore, according to Thomson Reuters StarMine.

Bharti Infratel, which raised $750 million in December in what was India's biggest IPO in two years, owns 42% of Indus Towers, the world's biggest tower company by number of telecommunication towers.