Bharti Infratel Q3 net up 62% at Rs 411 cr

Higher investment income and lower interest expenses are the reasons for the good numbers

Telecom tower company Bharti Infratel, on Thursday, reported a 62% jump in consolidated profit after tax at Rs 411 crore in the quarter ended 31 December 2013, on higher investment income and lower interest expenses. Its profit after tax stood at Rs 254 crore in the corresponding quarter previous fiscal year.

Consolidated revenue increase just 4% during the Octobet-December 2013 quarter to Rs 2,731 crore as compared with Rs 2,626 crore reported in the same quarter a year ago.

The company’s operating cashflow also increased by 30% to Rs 708 crore in the third quarter of the current fiscal year, as against Rs 546 crore reported in the year ago quarter.

Bharti Infratel, majority owned by India’s largest telecom carrier Bharti Airtel, expects operators to expand 3G networks in coming quarters as they see growth in revenue from data, its Managing Director Akhil Gupta said in a statement. The company is also expected to benefit from a recent network-sharing deal between Bharti AIrtel and Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio.

The company has also said that its finance cost has come down by 20% during the quarter and its other income rose about 45%. Tenancy ratio for each tower slightly improved to 1.96 during the quarter under review, as against 1.93 in the previous quarter.

Bharti Infratel has increased its towers to 82,813 during December quarter as against 82,476 in previous quarter and 81,389 in a year ago period.

Meanwhile, the company has elevated Devender Singh Rawat as an additional director and managing director and CEO of the company from his existing role as CEO, while the current managing director and vice-chairman Akhil Gupta has been appointed as executive chairman of the company, it said in a statement. Both the appointments are effective from 1 April 2014.