Bharti Infratel net profit up 12% at Rs 565 cr

Telecom tower company Bharti Infratel today reported 12 per cent jump in net profit to Rs 565 crore for the quarter ended December 31 on "aggressive" rollout of 3G and 4G networks by mobile operators.
It had, in comparison, reported net profit of Rs 507 crore in the October-December quarter of the last fiscal, Bharti Infratel said in a statement.
Revenue of the company also rose 5 per cent to Rs 3,093 crore for the reported period of the current fiscal, as compared to Rs 2,949 crore a year ago.
"The capital expenditure for the telecom sector is on rise due to aggressive rollout of 3G and 4G networks by the operators encouraged by increasing mobile data usage and focus on quality of service," Bharti Infratel Chairman Akhil Gupta said.

The company's earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) improved to Rs 1,349 crore, up 6 per cent as compared to Rs 1,276 crore last year.
The company's total tower base stood at 88,055 as on December 2015 whereas the average sharing factor stood at 2.17 times.
"We are already seeing sharp surge in data installations across our Infratel and Indus business, proving that these companies shall be major beneficiaries of this accelerated rollout and capex," Gupta added.
Bharti Infratel has 42 per cent stake in Indus towers.