In a statement Wednesday, Indus managing director Prachur Sah said the tower company had recorded the highest quarterly tower additions in the company’s history, outdoing the previous quarter’s performance on this metric.
“Our endeavour to capitalize on the existing opportunity arising from rapid network expansion by a major customer and 5G rollouts by operators will help in sustained value creation for shareholders,” Sah said in the statement.
Indus’s consolidated revenue for the July-September quarter stood at Rs 7, 133 crore, down 10% on-year.
But the tower operator, among the world’s largest, flagged continued recovery challenges from a key customer – cash-strapped Vodafone Idea.
“The funding plan of the said customer (read: Vi) has not materialised till the current quarter, and the said customer has indicated challenges in making committed payments pertaining to outstanding amounts due as at December 31, 2022,” Indus Towers said.
Indus, though, said that since the said customer (read: Vodafone Idea) has been paying sums, largely equivalent to monthly billing from January 2023, the company continues to recognise revenue from operations relating to this customer for services rendered.But as of end-September, 2023, Indus carried an allowance for doubtful receivables of Rs 5,653.3 crore relating to that customer, the tower company added.
Indus’ trade receivables for the June quarter have risen sequentially to Rs 6, 186.3 crore from Rs 5,303 crore in the fiscal first quarter, indicating Vi’s continuing financial challenges.
“A large customer accounts for a substantial part of revenue from operations for the quarter and six months ended September, 2023, and constitutes a significant part of outstanding trade receivables and unbilled revenue as at September 30, 2023,” Indus said.
The health of loss-making Vi is vital for Indus’ long-term financial stability since the telco is a key customer accounting for over 40% of the tower company’s revenue. The Indus stock closed 2% lower at Rs 174.25 on the BSE. Results for the September quarter were announced after market hours.
In the fiscal second quarter, Indus added 5, 928 towers on-quarter and 16, 286 on-year across 22 telecom circles in India. Co-locations increased 5, 583 sequentially and 15, 334 year-on-year. Co-locations are points where a tower company deploys mobile telecom antennae of multiple carriers on a single structure.
As of September 30, 2023, Indus owned and operated 2, 04, 212 towers with 3, 53, 462 co-locations across India.
