Tag: Bharti Airtel

Airtel to merge Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Telecom giant Bharti Airtel on Wednesday said it would merge Indus Towers with Bharti Infratel, to create a single telecom service company with an enterprise value of Rs 71,500 crore.

The combined entity will be named Indus Towers Limited, and will continue to be listed on Indian stock exchanges, Bharti Airtel said in an exchange filing.

Shares in Bharti Airtel were up about 2.4% at 0930 IST on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Bharti Infratel and Vodafone own a 42%  stake in Indus, while Idea has a 11.15% stake. Providence has a stake of 4.85% in the company.

As part of the deal, Vodafone will be issued with 783.1 million new shares in the combined company, in exchange for its 42% shareholding in Indus Towers.

Idea Group will sell its stake in Indus, and receive Rs 6,500 crore in cash upon completion of the scheme.

The telecom group also has the option to retain a 7.1% stake in the combined group, in which case, it will receive 207.9m new shares in lieu of cash.

Providence will receive new shares equivalent to a 1.1% stake in the combined company in exchange for 1.5% out of its 4.85% shareholding in Indus Towers, with an option to sell or retain its remaining stake.

Indus Towers currently operates in 15 telecom service areas, commonly known as circles, while Bharti Infratel has operations in seven circles.

The merger will allow the company to operate 163,000 towers operating across all 22 circles in India, and make it the largest telecom tower company outside China.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Bharti Airtel net profit declines 72% to Rs 83 crore

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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India’s largest telecom operator, Bharti Airtel, on Tuesday reported 72.8% drop in net profit at Rs 83 crore in the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2018.

Revenue fell 3.4% to Rs 19,634 crore in the fourth quarter of 2017-18 compared to Rs 21,935 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal.

Mobile data and voice traffic grew 505% and 55% respectively year-over-year. Africa net revenue grew 13.4% and EBITDA margin at 35.9%, down 0.6%.

Bharti Airtel also crossed 300 million mobile customer mark in India. Overall customer stands at 413.8 million across 16 countries, up 12.1%.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Bharti Infratel, Indus Towers merger in final stages

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Mega merger of Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers is in the last lap and an announcement is expected soon, sources with direct knowledge told CNBC-TV18.

The final contours being worked out values the merged entity above $16 billion. Sources share that Bharti & Vodafone will be the joint promoters of the merged tower company with over 1,60,000 telecom towers.

Idea Cellular will be a big beneficiary which is likely to gain over $1 billion by selling its 11.15% stake in Indus. Private equity firm Providence will also exit its 4.85% stake in indus Towers as part of the deal.

KKR which holds 10.3% stake in Bharti Infratel will continue as a minority shareholders in the merged company with over 6% stake.

A source said, “This new structure gives an early solution to the long pending complicated deal between the two tower companies. But, Bharti, Vodafone may have a one year lock-in due to their promoter status.”

CNBC-TV18 reached out to Bharti Group, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, KKR, Providence, all declined to make any comment on the deal development.

Merger of Bharti Infratel & Indus Towers was agreed upon by all the parties involved after the earlier deal of KKR, CPPIB combine buying majority stake in Bharti infratel and then in turn buying Indus Towers failed to materialize.

Bharti Infratel is cash rich and has close to Rs 6500 crore cash on its books which may be used to give an exit to Idea Cellular as part of the deal. Idea Cellular is currently in the process of executing the merger with Vodafone India which was announced a year ago.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Q4 earnings to be boosted on low base of Demonetisation and GST

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Fourth quarter earnings in most of the sectors will be better-than-expected, helped by a demonetization and Goods and Services Tax (GST) – hit low base, CLSA said in a note.

The brokerage said that the earnings growth will be at 17%. Domestic revenue growth will be at 10% year-on-year, which is expected to be a six-month high.

The auto sector is expected to report 18% growth in the quarterly earnings. CLSA added that, Tata Motors’ earnings might be hurt following a weak trend as the Jaguar Land Rover’s retail volumes fell by 8% year-on-year to 83,732 units in March 2018.

The auto makers performance lagged the most in the UK and Europe as a steep decline was seen in the diesel vehicle sales.

The consumer or FMCG sector will also post a 18% rise in the fourth quarter, after being worst hit by demonetisation and GST related hiccups. The key expectation from this quarter, is sustained recovery and positive management commentary.

CLSA added that domestic sectors like real estate is expected to post 63% of earnings growth as various real estate companies are encouraging pre-sales of properties like Sobha Ltd.

The banks will report a 46% decline in the quarter, hurt by higher non-performing assets (NPA) provisioning, CLSA said. Corporate banks are expected to witness higher provisioning, driving potential earnings downgrades.

Also Read: Eye on Q4 earnings: Experts discuss what to expect from Pharma, FMCG & other sectors

Earnings will decline 20% in the pharma sector for companies like Sun Pharma and Lupin, as they face the brunt of the pricing pressure in the U.S as well as outstanding regulatory issues, especially by The Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) on plants.

“Analysts expect low single digit revenue growth, with revenues from the US – a vital market – likely to decline for the fifth consecutive quarter due to faster drug approvals resulting in more competition and consequently pressure on price margins,” a report said.

However, 10% rise will be seen in the domestic markets for the drug companies as operations normalises post GST and demonetisation.

The intense competition faced from Reliance Jio’s entry into the market has caused Bharti Airtel to report its first ever quarterly loss in over 15 years and Idea to post its sixth consecutive loss, CLSA said.

The average revenue per user (ARPU) will continue to slip in the upcoming quarter, despite strong subscriber addition on account of migration of Aircel and Reliance Communications’ (RCOM) subscribers, Edelweiss said in a note.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

In telecom sector, ARPU to continue to slip in Q4 FY18, says Edelweiss

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The average revenue per user (ARPU) will continue to slip in the upcoming quarter, despite strong subscriber addition on account of migration of Aircel and Reliance Communications’ (RCOM) subscribers, Edelweiss said in a note.

Reliance Jio’s phone plans and cutting its tariff plans by Rs 50 on the 1GB per day on data plans, and giving cash back offers on plans worth Rs 399 and up in the month of January hurt its incumbents.

Bharti is likely to post its first quarterly loss in over 15 years, while Idea is likely to post its sixth consecutive quarterly loss.

Bharti Infratel could also have a soft quarter due to reduced tenancies, with many small operators exiting. It could be a mixed quarter, with weakness in voice, but data services may grow.

With the telecom sector being the worst performing sector since the start of the year, the question is how much of the bad news is already in the price.

Jio has signalled cut throat competition will continue, with the company providing free prime services for its subscribers for another year, contrary to market expectations that it will start monetising its users.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

4G mobile subscriptions likely to reach 432 million in India by 2020, says CMR

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Total mobile 4G subscriptions in India to rise to 432 million by 2020, Cyber Media Research (CMR) group said in a report published on Tuesday.

Reliance Jio, with its affordable data services and new feature phone, “JioPhone”, has taken the market by surprise prompting merger talks between Idea and Vodafone to tackle the telecom giant.

However, CMR had a different view on the competition between Reliance Jio and incumbents, Bharti Airtel, Idea and Vodafone.

Jio’s entry into in the 4G market has forced the incumbents, to ramp up their technology, enabling them to increase their subscribers base at a rate of 457%. Jio’s subscribers base, although higher at 88 million, grew at a lower rate of 112% by the end of December 2017, the report said.

83 million out of the 238 million 4G subscribers at the end of December 2017, were from the rural regions of India, the report added.

“Though laggards, incumbents have managed to increase their 4G subscriber base 3.8 times more than the disruptor operator Jio during 2017.  This could be attributed to incumbents aligning their 4G offering to that of Jio in terms of price as well as content,” said Faisal Kawoosa, Head – New Initiatives, CMR.

In rural India, 26% of subscribers are using Jio 4G, while its competitors had a higher share of 53% at the end of 2017, the analysis showed.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow