The Hindu : Business : Bharti Tele net zooms

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Friday, Apr 29, 2005

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Business

Bharti Tele net zooms

Staff Reporter

Plans to invest Rs. 4,000 cr. in network expansion

NEW DELHI: Sunil Mittal-owned Bharti Tele-Ventures on Thursday reported a 132 per cent jump in its net profit at Rs. 1,439 crores during 2004-05 while its total revenue grew by 61 per cent to Rs. 8,035 crores. The company plans to invest Rs. 4,000 crores to augment and expand its network.

In the last quarter of 2004-05, the total revenues stood at Rs. 2,317 crores, an increase of 49 per cent year-on-year while the net profit was Rs. 437 crores, up 44 per cent. The EPS (earnings per share) for the full year (based on Q4 profit) was Rs. 9.44. Mr. Mittal said the company had so far invested Rs. 17,000 crores in building the network and infrastructure. This year Rs. 4,000 crores would be spent to build networks in new areas and augment network in areas of strong presence. "We have presence in all the 23 telecom circles and have a subscriber based of over one crore with a 26.8 per cent share in the GSM based cellular services. This year we plan to set up 10,000 base stations and expand fixed line and broadband services," he added.

"We are in a hyper growth phase and more networks are being deployed," Mr. Mittal said, adding that the company planned to expand its presence from the present 2,200 to 5,200 towns and cities within the next few years.

Raising the issue of subscriber base of various operators, Mr. Mittal called for auditing of subscriber figures released by companies to get an objective view of their performance and market share. The Government should take the initiative and get revenues of companies posted on the net which should be reviewed every quarter, Mr. Mittal added.

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