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Informist, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025

 

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--Indus Towers: Data consumption in the country continues to be robust 
--CONTEXT: Comments by Indus Towers' mgmt in post-earnings analyst call 
--Indus Towers: See sustained rise in demand for passive telecom infra 
--Indus Towers: In pole position to monetise single-tenant towers 
--Indus Towers: Oct-Dec adjusted net profit up 7.7% YoY, 9.6% QoQ 
--Indus Towers: Too early to talk about EV charging infra investment, return 
--Indus Towers: Have predominant mkt shr in incremental rollouts by clients 

 

By Akshita Kumar

 

MUMBAI – Indus Towers Ltd. expects the demand for passive telecom infrastructure to rise continuously and add more capacity, its management said at a post-earnings conference call Friday. The company possesses the capability to effectively cater to this increasing demand. Data consumption in the country remained robust in the December quarter, due to the rapid uptake of the fifth generation and the continued upgrade to 4G from 2G, the company said.

 

The company has a predominant market share in incremental rollouts by Vodafone Idea Ltd. and other customers, the management said. Bharti Airtel Ltd. is the largest customer for Indus Towers. In the December quarter, the company added 4,985 micro towers and 7,583 co-locations. A significant number of tenancy additions in the December quarter helped the company's industry-leading tenancy ratio to become stable, after declining for many quarters, the company's management said. The company is well-placed to capture a sizeable share of its tenancy additions in the coming few quarters, it said.

 

The company generated free cash flow of INR 26.6 billion during the quarter. The company collected INR 19.1 billion from monetisation of the secondary pledge held by Vodafone, the company management said. The company also recovered an additional amount against overdues from a major customer. This resulted in an overall write-back of provision for doubtful receivables of INR 30.2 billion, reducing its outstanding provision to about INR 5 billion, the management said. 

 

Excluding the write-backs of provision for doubtful receivable, the net profit in Oct-Dec rose 7.7% on year and 9.6% on quarter. The company's consolidated net profit, including the write-backs, for the December quarter was INR 40.03 billion, up almost 160% on year, and up 80% sequentially. .

 

The company expects the ongoing network expansion of its customers to act as a key pillar in its growth. The company's order book remains quite strong both on towers and co-locations from all the customers. It expects the growth to remain robust for the foreseeable future, the company said. 

 

Asked about the company's electric vehicle charging infrastructure investment and expected returns from it over the next 3-5 years, the management said it is very early to comment as it is in the early stages. The company's primary business remains the tower business.

 

The management expects Jan-Mar to be a seasonally better quarter for the company, like the December quarter, due to better weather conditions and availability of electricity. Better uptime and lower diesel costs also translate to a better average revenue per tower, the management said.

 

Asked about servicing Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.'s expansion plans, the management said BSNL was an important customer and the company would continue to service it. On Friday, shares of the company ended at INR 367.95 on the National Stock Exchange, up 0.4%.  End

 

Edited by Saji George Titus

 

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