Mumbai, Nov. 6 -- Indus Towers expects revenue growth of 5 to 6 per cent to continue, supported by expansion in its tower and co-location base, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Prachur Sah said. He described the pace as reasonable for a company with a large existing network, while noting that additional loading from future 5G and 6G deployments could provide further support.

Sah said demand remained healthy despite expectations that tower additions would slow after peak 5G rollouts in FY24 and FY25. He attributed the pipeline to continuing network expansion by telecom operators and rising data consumption in India, which has reached about 30 to 40 GB per person in urban areas. The company expects tower requirements to remain robust as cities expand.

The company is also expanding its renewable-energy programme and plans to increase solar-powered telecom sites from 50,000 to 100,000 by early or mid-FY29. It began the initiative around the middle to late part of FY24 and has integrated about 300 MW of distributed solar capacity across its network. Diesel consumption fell 11 per cent in the first half of the current financial year from a year earlier.

Energy costs are largely passed on to telecom customers, but solar investments also generate service revenue through rental income from the infrastructure, supporting margins. Sah did not disclose the total investment, citing competitive considerations, but said the site count would double over the next couple of years.

Indus Towers has begun a greenfield international expansion in Uganda, Zambia and Nigeria. It secured licences over the past year and started deploying towers in Uganda and Zambia in September. The Africa business is intended as a long-term growth platform based on lower tower costs and reduced energy expenses for customers, although its financial contribution remains immaterial at this early stage. The company expects to provide greater visibility over the next few quarters as deployments gain scale.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Construction World.