Telecom infrastructure provider Indus Towers (Indus) has recorded the highest quarterly In-Building Solutions (IBS) deployment, and the company expects the momentum to continue as it continues to strengthen its IBS portfolio. During the quarter, Indus added 4,985 macro towers and 7,583 corresponding co-locations. "The total macro towers and co-locations base grew by 10.8 percent and 7.2 percent each year-on-year, standing at 234,643 and 386,819 respectively," said the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Indus Towers during the company's third-quarter earnings call for the period ended December 31, 2024.
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"Addition of co-locations on leaner tower stood at 132 in Q3 and the overall base increased to 11,492 co-locations. Including leaner towers our net co-location additions were at 7,715 in Q3 versus 4,490 in Q2," the CEO highlighted.
Tower Deployments in Challenging Locations
Additionally, during the quarter, the tower infrastructure company installed towers in some of the most geographically challenging locations in the country, including Leh, Ladakh, and Tawang, as well as Mechuka and Etalin in Arunachal Pradesh. The company highlighted that its teams on the ground worked around the clock in harsh conditions to ensure successful deployment.
5G Deployments Slowed Down
"The industry-wide total number of 5G BTS deployed stands at almost 465,000 with over 50,000 BTS being deployed in the last calendar year," the CEO said, adding, "The pace of 5G BTS deployment has slowed down." However, 5G loading contributes meaningfully to the overall loading revenue, he added, saying, "We expect the 5G loading revenues to be gradually supplemented by a demand for new sites once a certain penetration level is achieved to aid the network decongestion."
Solarisation
Additionally, the company said it increased the share of renewable energy sources, with solar sites growing to over 28,000 at the end of Q3. "Our ongoing initiatives including electrification of non-electrified sites and deployment of energy storage solutions have yielded an 8 percent year-on-year reduction in diesel consumption in Q3," the CEO shared.
Battery Technology
Regarding battery technology, Indus said it continues to transition its battery portfolio to Li-ion batteries, which have a lower charging time and a longer lifespan, thus providing both operational and cost efficiencies.
Tower Variant and Uptime
Likewise, Indus highlighted that it is shifting its tower portfolio to a lighter tower variant, which has helped reduce civil and product costs. Indus said that it continues to maintain high uptime, delivering a network uptime of 99.98 percent compared to 99.96 percent in Q2.
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Right of Way Rules
Indus also highlighted the regulatory landscape, stating that the Right of Way Rules, 2024, have been implemented from January 1, 2025, and must be mandatorily followed by all states. The company said this would help accelerate the rollout of telecom infrastructure in the country while being cognizant of environmental concerns.
Green Energy Open Access policy
Additionally, the Green Energy Open Access policy has been notified in almost 24 states, serving as a key enabler for driving the use of renewable energy and making energy consumption more efficient. "The composite billing scheme introduced a few quarters back has now been implemented in 11 states including the likes of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra," the CEO said.
Recovery of Dues
"During the quarter, we collected Rs 19.1 billion for monetization of the secondary pledge on the shares held by Vodafone Plc in Indus Towers. We also recovered an additional amount against the overdues from a major customer. This resulted in an overall write-back of provisions for doubtful debt of Rs.30.2 billion reducing our provision for doubtful debt to about Rs 5 billion. The writeback helped our overall profits and adjusted for the same, EBITDA increased by 8.3 percent year-on-year and 3.7 percent quarter-on-quarter, the Chief Financial Officer of Indus Towers said.
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IBS
The Indus CEO reiterated that the technology the company is deploying in IBS now includes 5G. "We put a robust team and drive behind it and that has resulted in a very strong uptake and our ability to acquire sites for IBS even in larger cities, so I think that has been the reason behind the IBS update and I think that has proven to our customers that we can deliver right so we are aggressively present in this space and we will continue to expand," the CEO said in response to a question on IBS addition.
Responding to a question on revenue from the small cell and lean tower market, the CEO replied, "IBS portfolio is becoming stronger for us and I think we have started to become a supplier of choice for IBS for our major customer, and we continue to provide bespoke solutions as far as small cells are concerned based on customer requirements so I think these are the three ways we are looking at the market outside the macro market."
Indus noted that in the IBS market, the company is a major player in the space.
5G FWA
On a question about whether the 5G FWA (Fixed Wireless Access) rollout is helping to add more tenancies, the CEO said, No, 5G coverage will cover that part. The COO added, "FWA has got nothing to do with tenancy; it is the 5G network and the last mile reach of 5G into the homes is what FWA caters to so they are using the on-air capacity and FWA is the last mile element there."
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Indus Towers Limited
Indus Towers is a provider of passive telecom infrastructure. It deploys, owns, and manages telecom towers and communication structures for various mobile operators. The company has a portfolio of 234,643 telecom towers, with a presence in all 22 telecom circles. Indus Towers caters to all wireless telecommunication service providers in India.
