Bharti Infratel Sept-quarter net profit up 68% to Rs 465 cr

Tower firm Bharti Infratel today reported a 68% jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 465 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2014 on the back of increased number of tenants on towers.

The company had reported a net profit of Rs 277 crore in the corresponding period last financial year.

Revenue of the company rose 9% to Rs 2,930 crore for the second quarter of 2015 fiscal as compared to Rs 2,684 crore last time, the company said in a statement.

"The telecom industry is entering into a phase of growth led by robust data uptake.

"The auctions in February 2014 gave lot of confidence and stability to the operators and a testimony to the fact is addition of close to 4,000 tenancies in this quarter for Bharti Infratel, an increase of over 100% as compared to same period last year," Bharti Infratel Chairman Akhil Gupta said.

He added bulk of the incremental tenancies are on account of rollout of data networks.

"We believe that the upcoming spectrum auctions in February 2015 will further accelerate this trend," Gupta said.

The company said consolidated EBITDA improved to Rs 1,220 crore, up 13% year-on-year, representing an operating margin of 41.6% and consolidated EBIT at Rs 673 crore, witnessed a 25% y-o-y growth.

The total tower base of the company stood at 84,303 with an average sharing factor of 2.05 whereas 3950 co-location additions took place during the reported quarter.

The net cash of the firm stood at Rs 3,322.2 crore at the end of September 2014.