Bharti Infratel Q3 net up 31% to Rs 254 cr

Bharti Infratel, the tower arm of Bharti Airtel, today reported a 30.7% jump in its net profit at Rs 254.1 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2012.

This is against Rs 194.4 crore registered in the same quarter last fiscal, Bharti Infratel said in a statement.

Bharti Infratel, which made its debut on the BSE and NSE in December last year, saw revenues increasing by 8.33% to Rs 2,626.4 crore for the reported quarter as against Rs 2,424.3 crore in the year-ago period.

"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," Bharti Infratel Vice Chairman and Managing Director Akhil Gupta said.   

With data growing at a fast pace, the company expects increased deployment of new networks by operators in the coming year, he added.

During the quarter, the group incurred capital expenditure of Rs 364.4 crore. "The operating free cash flow during the quarter was Rs 549.4 crore, a decrease of 2.2% compared to quarter ended December 31, 2011 on account of higher capital expenditure in the current quarter," it said.

The company had a total of 2,102 on roll employees on a consolidated basis as on December 31, 2012.

Bharti Infratel's total tower base stood at 81,389, along with 1.56 lakh co-locations at the end of the reported quarter.

While the total tower base has increased three% from 79,012 towers, total co-locations increased five% from 1.48 lakh in the October-December 2011 quarter.    

The monthly sharing revenue per tower increased three% to Rs 67,136 in the reported quarter, the statement said.

Bharti Infratel's consolidated portfolio includes over 80,000 telecom towers. Of this, over 34,000 are its own towers, while the balance come from its 42% equity interest in Indus Towers (a joint infrastructure company of Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular).

Through its IPO last year, Bharti Infratel had raised Rs 4,118.01 crore, including about Rs 1,388 crore from retail investors and Rs 2,078 crore from other investors such as QIBs and HNIs.

It had said it plans to use the proceeds from the IPO to fund its expansion and future acquisitions. Bharti Infratel's offer was the biggest public issue since State-run Coal India's initial public offer raised about Rs 15,500 crore in October 2010.