Bharti Infratel’s consolidated net profit remained flat at ₹608 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2019 as against a net profit of ₹606 crore in the same period a year ago, amid consolidation in the telecom industry.
For the full year 2018-19 too, the consolidated profits remained flat at ₹2,494 crore. The consolidated revenue for the quarter was ₹3,600 crore, down 2% from ₹3,662 crore in the year ago quarter, while for the entire year, the revenue stood at ₹14,582 crore, up 1% from ₹14,490 crore in 2017-18.
“The year gone by saw major consolidation in the Indian telecom industry with four operators ceasing to exist either on account of mergers or outright shut down of operations,” Akhil Gupta, chairman, Bharti Infratel Limited, said.
Mr. Gupta pointed out that between Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers, approximately 20% of opening co-locations were lost during the year, “translating to approximately 75,000 co-locations on an overall basis and approximately 40,000 co-locations on consolidated basis, mainly due to merger of Vodafone & Idea”.
“However, despite such unprecedented loss of co-locations, the overall financial performance for the year and the quarter ended March 31, 2019 has only been marginally lower than last year,” he added.
He said that with rapidly growing data demand, large network rollouts would be required, indicating strong potential for the company in coming years and the firm was already seeing some early signs of acceleration in network rollouts.
“We are fully prepared to exploit this potential and meet all requirements of our customers for speedy rollouts,” he said.
The company added that the merger process of Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers is on track and hopeful that it would be completed in few months.
The board of directors has declared a second interim dividend of ₹7.50 per equity share of ₹10 each for financial year 2018-19.
