Indus Towers, based in Gurugram, Haryana, India, operates at a different scale than most other tower companies around the world. As of December 31, 2023, the company reported a portfolio of 211,775 towers and over 450,000 small cell nodes. These sites support 360,679 colocated tenants for an average tenancy ratio of 1.72 per tower. Here’s where the scale part comes in. In just the past 12 months, the company built 22,383 new towers and added 21,244 new colocations.
This tally makes Indus Towers the largest infrastructure provider in India with presence in all 22 telecom districts, and to date, the second largest independent tower company in the world behind American Tower, according to Inside Towers Intelligence. That leading position will likely be surpassed by competing Indian towerco, Summit Digitel, once Summit Digitel completes its acquisition of American Tower’s ATC India operation, Inside Towers reported.
India is a huge wireless market, the second largest in the world behind China, according to Telegeograhy. At the end of October 2023, telecom regulator, TRAI, reported the total wireless subscriber base in India reached 1.151 billion with 630.4 million subscribers in urban markets and 520.6 million in rural areas. Private sector mobile network operators – Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, and Vodafone Idea – accounted for 92 percent of total subscribers while government-owned MNOs, MTNL and BSNL, accounted for the balance.
Indus Towers says that it has long-term master service agreements with each of the Indian MNOs. The company designs, builds, and operates infrastructure solutions for MNOs, venue owners, government agencies, and enterprises.
5G rollouts in India are continuing at a rapid pace. As of November 2023, TRAI reported that almost 400,000 5G base stations have been installed at a run-rate of more than 7,000 a week. 5G services are now available to subscribers across India.
Indus Towers also expressed confidence in its future growth prospects, driven by the increasing demand for wireless connectivity, the ongoing 4G and 5G rollouts, and the synergies from the earlier merger with Bharti Infratel.
For the quarter ending December 31, 2023, the company’s consolidated revenue was nearly $867 million, up over six percent YoY, driven by the growth in new tower builds and new tenancies. The company added what it said was a record 9,000 towers and 15,000 colocations in the quarter with capital expenditures of $320 million.
“Our third consecutive quarter of record tower additions demonstrated our robust operational performance. This was mirrored in the strong financial performance, which was further supplemented by steady collections,” comments Prachur Sah, Indus Towers Managing Director and CEO. “We expect our major customer’s focus on its network expansion and the ongoing 5G rollouts to continue yielding growth opportunities for us in the near term.”
EBITDA for the quarter was $436 million, up 205 percent YoY, representing an operating margin of just over 50 percent. The company attributed its high EBITDA margin to its revenue growth, cost synergies from the Bharti Infratel merger, and lower energy costs. AFFO was $302 million, up by 1,107 percent YoY.
By John Celentano, Inside Towers Business Editor
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