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Bharti bullish about revenue

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CIOL Bureau
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JAIPUR, India: Top Indian GSM mobile services firm Bharti Tele-Ventures Ltd. hopes to maintain or exceed its fourth quarter profit levels in the coming quarters thanks to a growing user base, said its chairman.



Bharti, 28 percent owned by Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., reported a consolidated net profit of 3.04 billion rupees ($68 million) for the fiscal fourth quarter ended March 31, compared with $15.7 million in the same quarter last year.



"It is hard for me to imagine that in this industry you don't better your performance," said Sunil Mittal after wrapping up a $98.4 million buyout of Hexacom India Ltd. -- a small mobile firm in the Desert State of Rajasthan.



Bharti, India's most prominent telecom stock with a market value of $6.9 billion, has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of booming demand in the world's fastest growing mobile market.



New Delhi-based Bharti aims to have up to 25 million users by 2005, giving it a quarter of the sector that is forecast to cross 100 million by 2005 from 34.56 million now.



Bharti, which provides mobile services in 15 of the 23 circles or zones making up the mobile sector, had 6.75 million users by end-April. The number has more than doubled over the past year thanks to one of the lowest call rates in the world.



Between 1.2 million and 1.5 million new wireless users are entering the furiously expanding sector each month.



Billionaire Mittal, 46, who started out by making cycle parts in the late 1970s and then diversified into telecom, said Bharti was keen to tap overseas markets to raise funds for acquisitions in India and abroad.



OUTPERFORMED



"We're ready," he said without specifying a timeframe. "The last one we did was a $175 million IPO and this one will be significantly more"



Bharti listed on the Indian markets in February 2002. At 167.25 rupees, the stock has gone up by 59 percent so far this year, in contrast with the 2.9 percent drop on the main index.



"We're likely to dilute not more than 10 percent," Mittal said, indicating the issue size could be in the vicinity of $700 million.



Mittal, who admires global carriers such as Vodafone, said Bharti would tap the international markets once the government raised the foreign investment cap in phones services firms to 74 percent from 49 percent now.



A decision is expected once the new central government takes charge in mid-May.



He said the planned listing would boost cash reserves that would come handy to acquire cash-strapped rivals.



"It is hard for me to imagine that Bharti will not have at least one more acquisition this fiscal year," Mittal said.



He told reporters on the sidelines of a company event that the firm would target telecom companies in East Asia, the Middle East during 2005/06.



Mittal said the mobile sector, which has 11 firms, would undergo a series of mergers in the year to March 2005 as it was becoming increasingly difficult for smaller players to continue investing in the money-guzzling industry.



"My feeling is that it will be more like five players -- eventually four will be left."



The winners would be Bharti, state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, India's largest telecom firm, and the telecom units of the powerful Reliance and Tata groups who are the leading providers of CDMA-based mobile services,Mittal added



Reuters

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