Indus Towers, India’s largest tower company, sees growing demand for its passive infrastructure facilities as the big mobile network operators in India, namely Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio, ramp up their respective 5G deployments.
For the full-year ending March 31, 2023, Indus Towers’ consolidated revenues grew over two percent year-over-year to $3.4 billion but consolidated EBITDA, profit after tax and operating free cash flows were all down YoY by double digit rates. Most of the negative impacts are due to slow collections from Vodafone Idea, one of Indus Towers’ largest MNO customers, and high energy costs. The negative impacts are similar to what American Tower’s Indian subsidiary, ATC India, is experiencing, Inside Towers reported.
Annual capital expenditures were up 41 percent to $495 million compared to $351 million in the prior year reflecting both new tower builds and upgrades to existing towers to support 5G rollouts. The company is expected to step up its capex for FY2024, to cater to its MNO customers as they scale up nationwide 5G rollouts.
India’s two largest MNOs, Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, together support 765 million mobile subscribers. Both MNOs have already rolled out 5G to thousands of cities and towns across India. Bharti Airtel is planning to launch 5G in all urban areas by September 2023, while Reliance Jio expects to complete a pan-India rollout by December 2023, Economics Times reported.
Prachur Sah, Indus Towers Managing Director and CEO, sees the commitment to increased capex as a “now or never” action to meet infrastructure demand from its MNOs and for achieving growth over the next decade.
“From my point of view, what I can say is being in an annuity business if you do not make it now, you will probably never make it,” Sah commented in the company’s FY2023 earnings call. “It is an important year for growth, so we need to capture it. From the capex point of view, we remain committed to the growth because this is something that is going to keep business healthy for a very long time.”
Indus Towers has a nationwide presence with operations in all 22 Telecommunications Circles in India. As of March 31, 2023, Indus owned and operated 192,874 towers with an average tower tenancy factor of 1.78. During the year, the company added 7,427 macro towers and 7,040 new colocations. Indus Towers is the largest tower company in India, according to Dgtl Infra, ahead of Summit Digital, ATC India and BNSL Towers. Although all of its operations are in India, Indus Towers is ranked by Dgtl Infra as the second-largest independent, publicly-held tower company in the world behind American Tower.
“The renewal of co-locations with our major customers during the year has secured our business over the long run,” Sah added. “Furthermore, the rapid pace of 5G rollouts and new tower rollouts supported by our major customers’ focus on expansion are expected to act as strong levers of growth for the foreseeable future. Being the largest passive infrastructure player in the country, we are well placed to tread this growth path in a sustainable way.”
By John Celentano, Inside Towers Business Editor
Reader Interactions