Bharti Infratel Q3 net profit drops 6% to Rs 585 cr

Mobile tower firm Bharti Infratel today posted 6 per cent fall in consolidated net profit to Rs 585 crore for the December quarter of the current fiscal on higher costs.

The company's net profit for the October-December period of last fiscal was Rs 620 crore.

Infratel's revenue for the third quarter of 2017-18 was Rs 3,655 crore, up 7 per cent over the year-ago period.

Its finance cost during the quarter under review jumped 154 per cent to Rs 51 crore.

The company said speedy 4G roll-outs and data-based demand will have a positive spin-off in the long term despite the ongoing consolidation in the telecom industry.

"We are all aware that the Indian telecom industry is transforming with unprecedented consolidation. Inevitably and as anticipated, we saw exits of co-locations from such consolidating operators this quarter," Bharti Infratel Chairman Akhil Gupta said in a statement.

However, he said that anticipating "more exits on this account in coming few quarters", the overall long-term impact is expected to be positive due to the accelerated step-up of nationwide 4G rollouts by remaining operators.

"With our reach, financial strength and operational expertise, we are in the best position to capture what we believe is a big potential for our industry based on exciting data-based demand," Gupta added.

The company's consolidated earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased to Rs 1,613 crore, 8 per cent higher than same period last year, representing an operating margin of 44.1 per cent. The EBITDA is a measure of a company's operational performance.

"The Operating free cash flow grew by 21 per cent year on year to Rs 970 crore for the quarter," the company statement added.

The total tower base stood at 91,007 during the just ended quarter, compared to 90,955 in the September quarter.

In October last year, Bharti Infratel had said it will "explore" acquiring additional stake in Indus Towers, a move likely to create India's largest mobile tower company.

"The board of directors of Bharti Infratel Ltd, in their meeting held on October 30, 2017, has decided to explore and evaluate acquisition of stake in one or more tranches in Indus Towers Ltd with the aim of making it a subsidiary or wholly owned subsidiary of Bharti Infratel Ltd," the company then stated.

Bharti Infratel and Vodafone India hold 42 percent stake in Indus Towers and rest is held by Idea Cellular.