Bharti net up 44% in Q4

Total revenue in Jan-March quarter grew 49%; aims at a subscriber base of 50mn by 2007.

Bharti Tele-Ventures, the country's largest wireless telephony service provider, registered a 44 per cent jump in its consolidated net profit to Rs 437 crore during the quarter-ended March 2005, against Rs 304 crore during the corresponding period in 2003-04.

The company's total revenue during the quarter grew 49 per cent to Rs 2,317 crore. Bharti Tele-Ventures' cash accrual from operations stood at Rs 819 crore during the fourth quarter. For the year-ended March 2005, the company reported a 132 per cent increase in net profit on a consolidated basis to Rs 1,439 crore.

The company's total revenue during 2004-05 witnessed a 61 per cent growth to Rs 8,035 crore. Earnings before interest tax debt and ammortisation (EBITDA) grew 80 per cent to Rs 3,007 crore during 2004-05.

Akhil Gupta, Bharti Tele-Ventures' joint managing director and chief financial officer, attributed the high growth in profit to the growing subscriber base and the increased minutes of usage.

Gupta said in a growing market lower average revenue per user (ARPU) was of the least concern, adding that the crucial determinants were growth in overall revenue and capital productivity.

According to data compiled by the company, minutes of usage per person per month had increased to 357 in the fourth quarter from 344 in October-December and 300 a year ago.

Bharti Chairman and Group Managing Director Sunil Mittal termed the growth as a result of the "first mover advantage" and said the focus would be on deepening networks and adding more subscribers.

"Although we have extended our foot print to all circles, there are still many towns and cities yet to be covered," he said.

Bharti, which has already lined up an investment of Rs 17,000 crore for its 10 million user base, intends to invest $900 million in the telecom infrastructure in its move to attain a subscriber base of around 50 million by 2007.

Mittal said 10,000 base transmission systems (BTS) would be added during the current financial year for better network facility. As on March 31, 2005, the company had put up 10,000 BTS.

Bharti, with a market capitalisation of Rs 37,000 crore, offers telecom services in all 23 circles of the country and accounts for a 26.8 per cent market share in the GSM segment and 21.2 per cent of the over all telecom market of the country.

The company, which registered a 66 per cent growth in subscriber base during 2004-05, at present has a total subscriber base of 11.84 million including a cellular user base of 10.98 million.