Indus Towers Q2 net profit up 38% at Rs 1,559 cr

Indus Towers on Monday posted a 38 per cent rise in consolidated net profit to about Rs 1,559 crore for September 2021 quarter, as reforms announced recently for the telecom industry led to a sharp improvement in business sentiments.The net profit of the telecom infrastructure firm was about Rs 1,131 crore in the year-ago period, according to a company statement.The consolidated revenues of Indus Towers formerly Bharti Infratel during the just-ended September quarter stood at Rs 6,877 crore, up about 8 per cent year-on-year.

Indus Towers on Monday posted a 38 per cent rise in consolidated net profit to about Rs 1,559 crore for September 2021 quarter, as reforms announced recently for the telecom industry led to a sharp improvement in business sentiments.

The net profit of the telecom infrastructure firm was about Rs 1,131 crore in the year-ago period, according to a company statement.

The consolidated revenues of Indus Towers (formerly Bharti Infratel) during the just-ended September quarter stood at Rs 6,877 crore, up about 8 per cent year-on-year. Indus Towers, Managing Director and CEO, Bimal Dayal noted that this was a significant quarter for the telecom industry in the backdrop of the announcement of major reforms, which resulted in a sharp improvement in business sentiments. ''We welcome this vital step and are prepared to partner with our stakeholders in the journey towards Digital India,'' Dayal said in the statement. The company continued to improve its operational performance with an increase in net colocations during the quarter and delivered a strong financial performance, Dayal observed.

The consolidated EBITDA, which came in at about Rs 3,641 crore in Q2 FY22, was 17 per cent higher than the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Put simply, Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation or EBITDA is a measure of a company's operational performance.

''Following the merger between Bharti Infratel Limited and Indus Towers, effective November 19, 2020, the results filed under Regulation 33 and Regulation 52 of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015, as amended, are not comparable with the results disclosed prior to the effective date. Hence, the company has given proforma unaudited consolidated results,'' the company statement explained.

The telecom sector has got a shot in the arm, with the government recently approving a blockbuster relief package that includes a four-year break for companies from paying statutory dues, permission to share scarce airwaves, change in the definition of revenue on which levies are paid and 100 per cent foreign investment through the automatic route.

The measures, aimed at providing relief to companies such as Vodafone Idea that have to pay thousands of crores in unprovisioned past statutory dues, also include the scrapping of Spectrum Usage Charge (SUC) for airwaves acquired in future spectrum auctions.

Telecom operators like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea have already said they will opt for the four-year moratorium on payment of dues. The moratorium is likely to free up cash flow to the tune of thousands of crores for telcos.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)