Bharti Infratel reports Q4 net profit flat at Rs 608 crore

Bharti Infratel has reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 608 crore during the fourth quarter ended March 31 as compared to Rs 606 crore in the corresponding quarter of last year.

Consolidated revenue for the quarter stood at Rs 3,600 crore, down 2 per cent year-on-year, mainly due to a sharp drop in co-locations on its telecom sites amid rapid consolidation in the sector.

Co-locations are points where a tower company deploys mobile telecom antennae of multiple carriers on a single structure.

The company's consolidated earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell 4 per cent to Rs 1,534 crore while operating free cash flow rose 14 per cent to Rs 1,154 crore during the period.

Between Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers which are being merged, about 20 per cent of opening co-locations were lost during the year translating to about 75,000 co-locations on an overall basis and nearly 40,000 co-locations on consolidated basis.

This was mainly due to the merger of Vodafone and Idea, said Bharti Infratel's Chairman Akhil Gupta. "However, the overall financial performance for the year and the quarter has only been marginally lower than last year," he said in a statement late on Wednesday.

Gupta said with rapidly growing data demand, large network rollouts will be required, indicating strong potential for the company.

"We are fully prepared to exploit this potential and meet all requirements of our customers for speedy rollouts. The merger process of Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers is on track and we hope that it would be completed in the next few months," he added.

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