RING IN THE NEW Bharti Airtel to transfer its towers and related passive infrastructure business to wholly owned Bharti Infratel Limited It plans to acquire a submarine network cable system from Network i2i for an overall consideration of $110 million Third-quarter net profit rose 123% to Rs 1,215 crore from Rs 545 crore a year ago Total revenues stood at Rs 4,913 crore against Rs 3,026 crore a year ago

New Delhi, Jan. 23: Bharti Airtel will hive off its mobile communications towers business into a wholly owned subsidiary. It will also acquire a submarine network cable system linking Singapore and India from Network i2i for $110 million.

Meanwhile, the company has clocked a 123 per cent growth in net profit at Rs 1,215 crore compared with Rs 545 crore in the year-ago period as it added 50 lakh subscribers in the third quarter this fiscal.

Total revenues stood at Rs 4,913 crore, up 62 per cent over Rs 3,026 crore in the corresponding period last year.

To increase its operational efficiencies, Bharti Airtel said it would transfer its towers and related passive infrastructure business to a wholly owned arm — Bharti Infratel Limited. The company now owns 30,000 towers, which will increase to 40,000 over the next one year.

The company also plans to acquire a submarine network cable system from Network i2i for an overall consideration of $110 million subject to requisite approvals.

Singapore-based SingTel and the Bharti Group set up Network i2i as a joint venture in 2001 to build an undersea cable link between India and Singapore. SingTel, which owns 30.8 per cent of Bharti, said the sale of its 49.99 per cent holding in Network i2i may alternatively be structured as a sale of the assets of i2i to the country’s top mobile operator for around $110 million. The company, however, did not comment on the reason for its decision to divest stake in Network i2i.

Bharti is among 16 carriers in a consortium that owns the Southeast Asia, Middle East and Western Europe (SEA-ME-WE) 4 cable system running through 14 countries from Singapore to France.

The company is also foraying into direct-to-home services to tap the fast-growing home entertainment segment through a subsidiary — Bharti Telemedia Limited.

Bharti, whose total revenues stood at Rs 4,913 crore in the third quarter, expects to perform better in the coming months. “Demand for telecom services continues to be robust across all segments, led by a buoyant economy. The wireless sector has seen record additions and the trend is likely to continue,” said Bharti chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal.

The company’s market share rose to 21.8 per cent with its subscriber base — mobile, broadband and telephone — increasing about two-fold to reach 3.37 crore on December 31, 2006. It added 50.19 lakh customers during October-December 2006, a growth of 92 per cent year-on-year.