Indus Towers Ltd

NSE:INDUSTOWER

Earnings Call Analysis

Indus Towers Reports Strong Q2 Growth with Robust Cash Flow

Indus Towers delivered a solid financial performance in Q2, with revenues reaching INR 74.7 billion, up 4.7% year-on-year. Core rental revenues grew by 8.5% to INR 47.1 billion, driven by increased tower co-locations. EBITDA surged 42% year-on-year to INR 49.1 billion, marking a 65.7% margin. Profit after tax skyrocketed 71.8% to INR 22.2 billion. The company successfully reduced diesel usage by 2% year-on-year and aims for significant growth in 5G infrastructure. With solid collections against overdue accounts and notable backlogs of INR 35 billion, the company is optimistic about maintaining momentum in the coming quarters.

Strong Financial Performance Amidst Challenges

In the second quarter ended September 30, 2024, the company reported a solid performance with revenues reaching INR 74.7 billion, representing a year-on-year growth of 4.7%. The core rental revenues grew even more impressively, at 8.5%, driven by significant tower co-location additions. Despite the challenges posed by inclement weather, the company succeeded in adding 4,490 co-locations, which boosted the operational metrics significantly. Quarter-on-quarter revenues also saw modest improvements, up 1.1% overall and 1.5% in core rental revenues.

Robust Profitability Metrics

Profitability soared with reported EBITDA increasing by 42% year-on-year to INR 49.1 billion, achieving an impressive EBITDA margin of 65.7%, an increase of 17.3 percentage points from the previous year. The net profit after tax surged by 71.8% to INR 22.2 billion, driven by strategies that focused on debt collections, yielding collections of over INR 23 billion in the past year. Even when adjusted for a write-back of provisions, the net profit still showed a healthy increase of 13.8% compared to the previous year.

Efforts Toward Sustainability and Cost Efficiency

The company emphasizes reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing its renewable energy portfolio. Diesel consumption has decreased, showing a reduction of 2% year-on-year, and the solar site count has now surpassed 25,000. This initiative is expected to bolster operational efficiency and reduce energy costs in the long run. The firm has also implemented cost-effective technological solutions, focusing on remote monitoring, which aims to enhance productivity and resource management.

Positive Outlook for Future Growth

The demand outlook remains robust, particularly driven by the rollout of 5G. Currently, the company has over 450,000 5G transceiver stations deployed, which is expected to continuously increase. This positioning allows the firm to capture additional revenue from loading activities as users migrate from 4G to 5G. Furthermore, the company is optimistic about obtaining more tenancies from major customers, indicating a potentially stronger revenue trajectory as the telecom landscape evolves.

Strategic Initiatives and Market Dynamics

Strategically, the company maintained its competitive edge during the quarter despite facing substantial natural disruptions. Their operational strategy is heavily focused on improving market share and leveraging government policies aimed at accelerating telecom infrastructure deployment. The report also suggested that the competitive dynamics in the market had not deteriorated, emphasizing continued customer demand for tower tenancies that are expected to enhance overall revenues.

Dividend Policy and Share Buyback

Regarding capital allocation, the company is committed to maintaining a dividend policy linked to free cash flow distribution. Following a successful buyback of 56.8 million shares, the management indicated they will actively review dividends at year-end based on the cash flow situation, enhancing shareholder returns.

Earnings Call Transcript 2025-Q2

[Operator]

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I'm [ Sunita ], your moderator for the conference. Welcome to the Indus Tower Limited Second Quarter Ended September 30 [indiscernible] earnings call. [Operator Instructions]

In case of a natural disaster, the call will be terminated. Present with us on the call today is the senior leadership team of Indus Towers. Before I hand over the call, I must remind you that the [ audio ] and discussion today may include certain forward-looking statements that must be viewed in connection with the risks that we face.

I now hand over the call to our first speaker of today, Mr. Prachur Sah. Thank you. And over to you, Mr. Sah.

[Prachur Sah, executive]

Thank you, Sunita, and a very warm welcome to all participants. Joining me today are my colleagues, Mr. Vikas Poddar, CFO; Mr. Tejinder Kalra, COO; and Mr. Dheeraj Agarwal, Head of Investor Relations.

I am pleased to present our business performance over the quarter ended September 30, 2024. We're pleased to report that in line with the trajectory of the previous 3 quarters, we sustained 100% collection against monthly from a major customer, while our collections against past overdues improved further during the quarter. And our tower additions remained strong despite unfavorable weather conditions, such as floods and heavy rainfall in [indiscernible]. The demand outlook for the next few quarters continues to be strong, and we expect to continue the delivery momentum.

Having said that, it also gives me great pride to see that despite challenging weather conditions, our teams on the ground continue to show remarkable [Technical Difficulty] to ensure that [indiscernible] tender sites [indiscernible] is not impacted. Similarly, [indiscernible] and flash floods fitted by incessant rainfall to continue rolling out sites. We also installed towers in the highest altitude areas of [indiscernible] and certain remote locations of Kashmir.

The regulatory landscape continues to become more conducive for the swift deployment of telecom infrastructure in the country. This is underpinned by the proactive manner taken by the government, while being cognizant of the sustainability aspect. With the objective of improving telecom services in rural, remote and underserved urban areas, notified the Bharti Road 2024, enabling the digital Bharti to support projects to potential. Additionally, the move also aims to enhance telecom security and foster innovation. The department has also notified right of way routes 2024 under Telecommunications Act 2023 that aims to resolve interpretational issues within the industry and ensure efficient deployment of telecommunications infrastructure, among other things.

Additionally, the green open access policy introduced last year has now been adopted by more than 2 new states. The policy is aimed at incentivizing the use of cleaner sources of energy.

Shifting gears to 5G. The total amount of 5G-based transceiver stations as it is deployed it now stands at over 450,000, with India witnessing one of the fastest 5G rollouts [indiscernible]. Our loading revenues continue to act as a lever for growth. We expect our loading revenues to be gradually supplemented by the demand for new sites once a certain penetration level is achieved to aid the network [ integration ]. Given our immense strength and the leading player in the [indiscernible] space, including strong execution capability, we believe that we are well placed to address this demand.

5G subscriptions have continued to increase both globally and in India as the more and more users migrate from 4G. As for the latest [indiscernible] mobility report, global 5G point solutions at the end of June 2024 now stand at over 1.9 billion, with 161 million additions seen during the quarter. On the other hand, subscriptions declined by 25 million in the same period. 5G subscriptions are expected to reach almost 5.6 billion by 2029, accounting for around 60% of the overall mobile subscriptions As per the TRAI latest report, the total 5G subscription base in India grew to 190 million in Q1 FY 2025, increasing by 31 million. Comparatively, 4G subscriptions saw a decline of 15 million.

The swift uptake of 5G is mentioned that the ongoing migration of users from 2G to 4G is providing a boost to data consumption within country. For the top 3 operators, the total data consumption growth at 28% year-on-year for the June quarter as well above the average of the previous 8 quarters. The average data consumed per user per month increased to 26 GB to [indiscernible], growing by 17% year-on-year. Additionally, as per TRAI, 5G data consumption grew 28% quarter-on-quarter to 11.4 billion GB and contributed to 20.3% of total data usage in Q1 FY '25 compared to 16.9% in Q4 FY '24.

The robust data consumption story, coupled with the uptake of 5G, is expected to spur the need for infrastructure, and we are confident of leveraging our core strengths to capitalize on this opportunity.

Moving to operational performance. Our power and tenancy additions continue to be material despite seasonal distabilities. In Q2, we added 3,748 micro towers and 4,300 corresponding co-locations. Our total macro towers and co-location stood at 229,658 and 379,236 each, increasing by 12.5% and 7.3% year-on-year, respectively. Our tenancy ratio continues to be industry-leading at 1.65. Addition of co-locations on towers stood at 182 in quarter 2, and the overall base increased to 11,360 co-location. Including in towers, our net co-location additions were 4,490 in Q2 versus 6,822 in Q1. .

I'll now talk about improvements we have made on our 4 key strategic pillars, namely market share, cost efficiency, network uptime and sustainability. On market share, we are pleased to see that the proactive measures we are taking have helped us maintain our share in the business of our major customers. The technological interventions we have been taking across the value chain, along with the strengthening of our partner ecosystem, have contributed to our achievement. We continue to grow our presence in urban areas, underpinned by the capabilities we have built, which help towers 24/7 at speed. This has helped us address challenges specific to urban areas, including minimizing the disturbances during the [indiscernible].

We have also continued to leverage the government's ROW policy relating to the deployment of site of lands owned by government bodies, including state municipal corporations and PSUs, in order to increase our reach further. Additionally, our robust internal processes and quality centers helped, improving our competitiveness, which is further supplemented by expanding our portfolio to reach the gap in network footprint. In addition to the rollouts, one of our major customers, we are anticipating incremental tenancies to flow through some other major customers as well in the near term, which we believe will act as a pilot to our growth lot. We believe the demand for other offerings, including in-building and small cell solutions will go as a telecom infrastructure landscape evolves further.

In terms of cost efficiency, an initiative towards reducing our operating and capital expenses continued in Q2 as well. Our diesel consumption reduced further by 2% in Q2 on a year-on-year basis. The reduction in diesel consumption was lower primarily due to other services, as I alluded to earlier. Our renewable energy portfolio continues to expand with a solar site count increasing to more than 25,000 and quarterly additions being close to 4,000. The conversion of size of indoors to outdoors and electrification of non-electrified sites continue to be part of our OpEx strategy. All these actions will help us optimize our energy costs.

With regards to CapEx, we are working towards implementing technological solutions at sites, which would enable remote [ monitoring ] on sites on a real-time basis and provide [indiscernible]. This, in turn, would help us carry out infrastructure rationalization and resource optimization, resulting in cost efficiencies.

Thirdly, network of time remains the key ask of the customer. I would like to reiterate that Q2 saw large numbers of business disruptions, with such intensive being more than 1.5x compared to the same period last year. In addition to Kerala and Northeastern states, heavy rains and floods were also seen in parts of West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, [indiscernible] and Bihar. Despite this, the dedicated efforts of continues helped us maintain a pan-India time of 9.96%, reaffirming our competitiveness in operating and maintaining such an extensive distributable base.

Now moving to ESG, our strategic priority for the organization. We are pleased with the headway we have made within each dimension of ESG underpinned by our consistent efforts. With regards to the environment, as I mentioned, we continue to maintain a strong focus on reducing our GHG emissions by both reducing our diesel consumption and increasing the contribution of renewable sources to fuel our energy needs. Transformer site additions continue to be reversed with our overall base now standing at over 25,000 sites. During the quarter, we launched our future program, through which we aim to plant 1 million is by 2027 in order to create a sizable [ carbon sink ] for the country.

With a view to ensure sustainable practices across the value chain, we conducted ESG training for more than 80 major partners. In terms of making a diverse and inclusive workforce, our focus hiring programs have led to agenda IT improving to 14.3% in Q2 compared to 11.2% in Q1. During the quarter, we also launched our 11 leadership development programs in collaboration with [indiscernible] to give our women employees with the requisite skills and needed to take up leadership growth in the future. Another aspect was to see our ESG efforts being appreciated as business work in the towers is one of the most sustainable companies for 2024 in the infrastructure center.

On the CSR front, we supported flood-affected communities on Andhra Pradesh by distributing over 1,000 relief kits. We are pleased to see a digital transformation plan initiative in educating and upskilling that [indiscernible], expanding to 6 states in Q2. Our scholarship program for disabled children has now over 600 beneficiaries.

During the quarter, the company successfully completed the buyback of 56.8 million shares at a price of INR [ 4.65 ] per share. Post this, shareholding of Bharti Airtel the company increased to more than 50%.

I would now request Vikas to take you through our financial performance for the quarter ended September 30, 2024, and I look forward to your questions. Over to you, Vikas. Thank you.

[Vikas Poddar, executive]

Thank you, Prachur, and good afternoon, everyone. I'm pleased to share with you all the financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2024.

We had a robust financial performance in quarter 2, aided by meaningful rollouts, wherein we added 4,490 co-location on our towers, including lean towers. In terms of the financial performance for quarter 2, our revenues stood at INR 74.7 billion, growing 4.7% year-on-year, while the core revenues from rental grew by 8.5% year-on-year to INR 47.1 billion. These were driven by co-location additions and loading. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, our reported gross revenue and core revenue from rentals were up by 1.1% and 1.5%, respectively.

Moving to profitability. The reported EBITDA increased by 42% year-on-year and 8% quarter-on-quarter to INR 49.1 billion. EBITDA margins increased by 17.3 percentage points year-on-year and 4.2 percentage points quarter-on-quarter to 65.7%. Our collections against the past overdue from a major customer have continued in this quarter, and this has resulted in write-back of provision for doubtful debt and [ added ] our profitability for quarter 2. Adjusted for overall provision write-back of INR 10.8 billion in quarter 2, EBITDA increased by 6.9% year-on-year and 1.2% quarter-on-quarter.

Coming to energy performance. We are actively taking steps to cut down on diesel usage and expanding our renewable energy portfolio and addressing the reconciliation challenges that we face.

Moving on to the profit after tax. Reported profit after tax was INR 22.2 billion, increasing 71.8% year-on-year and 15.5% quarter-on-quarter. Adjusted for the provision write-back, the profit after tax was up 13.8% year-on-year and 4.6% quarter-on-quarter. The reported pretax return on capital employed and post-tax return on equity for rolling 12 months were at 22.9% and 29.0%, respectively. We generated free cash flow of INR 14.4 billion in quarter 2, aided by higher collections and lower CapEx.

Trade receivables decreased by INR 0.9 billion due to better collections. For the last few quarters, we have been collecting a sum against the past overdues from a major customer. We have collected a total of more than INR 23 billion in the last 12 months. This has resulted in our provision for doubtful debt reducing to about INR 35 billion. We are also in constant discussions for clearance of the remaining overdues. And additionally, as touched just upon by Prachur earlier, we are expecting additional tenancies from this customer as it expands its 4G capacity and coverage.

In summary, the consistent collections of past overdues from a major customer, in addition to collection of 100% of the monthly billing amount continue to support our financial performance. On our operational performance, we were able to record a meaningful number of tower and tenancy additions despite the weather disturbances seen during the quarter. We believe that the network expansion and the 5G rollouts of our customers will continue to act as levers of growth.

With this, I would now request the moderator to open the floor for question and answers. Thank you.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] The question comes from Mr. Aditya Suresh from Macquarie.

[Aditya Suresh, analyst]

I just had one question actually. So can you help us understand the competitive dynamics as we speak, in particular, given the consolidation of the #2, #3 player? The real question is, I mean, are we seeing any changes, whether it be in the rental terms or migration of tenancies from [ Jio ] or Vodafone in that consolidation?

[Unknown Executive]

So the, if I'm understanding the question correctly, you're asking about the consolidation in the towerco side, if it's impacting Indus. To be honest, I think -- I mean, we have not seen any such thing. I think we continue to be the driving and tower tenancy growth from our customers. We have not seen any impact as such in terms of any change in the competitive dynamics. And I believe it's a reflection of the market from an operator side, which is reflected in the tpwers consolidation. That's why I don't see any impact on that. Our focus remains on our own performance, making sure we capture the market share and remain very competitive in terms of deploying at time with the right quality and strong operational performance

[Aditya Suresh, analyst]

Maybe just as a follow-up, if I could ask, as your new contracts coming up for renewal, what sort of discounts are we seeing here right now?

[Vikas Poddar, executive]

So, Aditya, I think as far as the renewal discounts are concerned, the framework is very consistent. So just as a recap, we had signed a renewal framework in FY '22. And thereafter -- that was the time when we had really a bulk sort of renewal. Thereafter, there has not been any major lumpy renewal in the last 2 financial years. But pretty much the framework remains consistent, and the discount levels are also very similar to what we had worked out.

[Operator]

The next question comes from Mr. Sanjesh Jain from ICICI Securities.

[Sanjesh Jain, analyst]

I've got two of them. First, on the tenancy group, this is one quarter where probably after many quarters the tenancy growth is materially higher than the tower growth, which indicates that we are getting some additional tenancy from BSNL and Vodafone. [indiscernible] in the next few quarters?

[Vikas Poddar, executive]

Sanjesh, your voice was not very audible. If you don't mind repeating, please?

[Sanjesh Jain, analyst]

Yes, yes. Am I audible now? .

[Vikas Poddar, executive]

Yes, very clear.

[Sanjesh Jain, analyst]

So I was telling this is one of those quarters after many quarters where tenancy growth has materially higher than the tower growth. which indicates that we are getting additional tenancies from the VIL and BSNL rollout. This trend is fair to assume will continue for next few quarters?

[Unknown Executive]

I would assume so, I think, Sanjesh. As customers continue to roll out, I believe this growth will continue. And in fact, if you see over the last 1.5 years, because of our strong tower rollout, we will remain the prime candidate to make sure we capture this growth. .

[Sanjesh Jain, analyst]

Got it, got it. And incremental rollout of these 2 and who are being aggressively rolling out network, will we retain our market share, say, 60%, 70% market share, what we have today in VIL and some amount of incremental tenancy from BSNL? Are we confident about that?

[Unknown Executive]

I cannot give you a number, Sanjesh, because of -- I mean, however, as I mentioned earlier, because of the rollout that we have done in the last 1.5 years where we had a significant amount of tower, we remain in the prime position in terms of our second tenancy and third tenancy being available at the towers. So from an availability point of view, we may in the prime position. So we will continue to make sure that our operational performance keeps us in the pole position to get the majority market share. .

[Sanjesh Jain, analyst]

Second question is on the CapEx side. Reliance Jio has already announced their results, and it appears that in the first half, the CapEx intensity from last year has halved. And you just talk to guided of slowing or decelerating CapEx. Do you think the growth from the aggressive players historically can materially reduce in the next 2 years?

[Unknown Executive]

Sanjesh, is it's hard to predict, right? I think, of course, I think the amount of growth we've seen in FY '24 is not going to be every year, right? However, if you look from rollouts that have happened this year, they still remain on the higher side than what we have done in the past. And looking at the order book, I believe we will continue this momentum.

[Sanjesh Jain, analyst]

When you say continue the momentum we are referring to tower growth or tenancy growth here? .

[Unknown Executive]

Both.

[Operator]

The next question comes from Mr. Arun Prasath from Avendus Spark.

[Arun Prasath, analyst]

The first question is on this [indiscernible] this quarter. Can you just share ballpark how much of the deployment reduction is can be attributable to the beer. Is it better? Is it substantial? Is it due to a reduction in some of the telcom activities in..

[Unknown Executive]

It's very hard to [indiscernible] of how much sales number it's split into. But you can get the historical performance. Every year quarter 2, hit back [indiscernible] by the weather conditions. As I mentioned to the earlier question that we can ask. I think momentum of FY '24 -- where the numbers of FY '24 may not be repeated every year. But FY '25 is so far, and if you look at the historical performance, we still continue to deploy it in [indiscernible] tower which are very meaningful. So I can't give you a split on how much is the order book related and how much is the [indiscernible]. But I think the tower growth continues.

[Arun Prasath, analyst]

All right. Fair enough. We are already seeing this new addition is picking up speed. But how much of the loading in terms of loading activities is the second customer is [indiscernible]. So is it just started? Or is that -- [indiscernible].

[Unknown Executive]

Yes. So again, I can't give you the exact numbers again because I don't have it, to be honest. I think -- but there are 3 things. One is the colocation additions, as you mentioned, from the other customers who can come on the towers that we are starting to see. Secondly, the loading both 4G and 5G, where the conversion from 2G to 4G is having, I think they have started to materialize, and we expect that momentum to pick up in the coming quarters.

[Arun Prasath, analyst]

And this is -- even for the -- for your largest customer, with to 5G, that it's fairly done? Or it's still -- what kind of momentum we can expect on the [indiscernible]?

[Unknown Executive]

Arun, from a 5G point of view, I think there was a large rollout that has happened over the last 1.5 years. I don't believe it would be that speed, but there are going to be addition to 5G, maybe not at the rate it was being done at last year, but some of the sentiment.

[Operator]

Next question is Mr. Kunal Vora from BNB Paribas.

[Kunal Vora, analyst]

I have a few questions. Firstly, just share your thoughts on the GST notice that you [indiscernible]? What is your sense? What is the industry that you regarding the input?

[Vikas Poddar, executive]

Yes. Kunal, I think the show cause notice that we've received is basically putting a question on the GST credit on passive infrastructure assets, like the dealer generator, AC, battery bank that we deploy. And I mean, based on our assessment, we believe that the liability currently is not evolving on the company. and we consider this as remote. I mean, this is an ongoing thing. Just because it's a very large number we have disclosed it. There are also other matters linked to this, which are currently in the courts. So the matter is a bit of a [ subsidy ] matter. But currently, it's a disclosure, we really don't see this as a major risk. .

[Kunal Vora, analyst]

Understood. What is the next step? When do you think this can see the results?

[Vikas Poddar, executive]

Like I said, the matter is [ subdued ] as we are waiting for the judgment from the court. So once the judgment is known, thereafter, there will be some proceedings. So sometimes these things take time, Kunal. .

[Kunal Vora, analyst]

SP1 Understood. Second is the negative energy margin. This last couple of quarters has been weaker compared to what we've seen historically. So how should we project them going forward? .

[Unknown Executive]

So Kunal, I mean, again, there are two elements to it. Of course, we have to look at what is the reconciliation like we do with our customers to make sure it becomes reflective, and that is also process when that will happen. And typically, in Q1, Q2 in these quarters which are impacted by heavy rainfall and monsoons. So typically, Q1 and Q2, the energy margin is impacted by the seasonality, which we expect to recover in the Q3 and Q4. But yes, that is something, as I mentioned in my talk earlier as well, that I mean that is a constant effort that we are looking at and growing operational efficiency, which reduces our energy costs and improve the margin. So I believe there's a little bit of a timing issue. We should see the margin getting improved in the later part of the year. .

[Kunal Vora, analyst]

Understood. Third one is for the new tenancies from Vodafone Idea, do you negotiate at all? I mean, is there any floor for that, especially with competition of a bulk discount. Can you reform or you [indiscernible] rate [indiscernible]?

[Vivekanand Subbaraman, analyst]

I think we leave -- Kunal, I think, as I said, I mean, our offering is beside commercial is strong operational performance. I would not like to discuss the commercial aspect here, but I think we remain very competitive both commercially and operationally to make sure we get the larger part of it. .

[Kunal Vora, analyst]

Understood. . And can you share your thoughts on dividend payment in the coming quarters, improved cash collection and lower CapEx?

[Unknown Executive]

Yes. Kunal, as we have always maintained in our previous calls and now as well, we have a very clear dividend policy, which directs us to distribute the free cash flow. So at the end of the year, the Board will take accordingly in line with the policy. .

[Vikas Poddar, executive]

Yes. Just to add, Kunal, the free cash that we generated in H1, we've already used that for distributing through the buyback. So that policy is unchanged, and we will certainly evaluate again at the end of the year based on the collections and the cash flow situation. And we'll take that call together with the Board. .

[Kunal Vora, analyst]

And just one last question. How should we look at the finance cost going forward? The number has increased in the quarter.

[Vikas Poddar, executive]

The finance cost is largely the cost of borrowing. And I don't think there's anything major that has changed there. If you're looking at the net finance cost number, then obviously, there is a bit of fluctuation in our finance income, which is driven by the fact that we are trying to collect interest on the overdues as well from one of our customers. So whenever that fluctuates, to that extent, the net finance cost fluctuation is visible. But otherwise, at a gross level, the finance cost is pretty stable. .

[Kunal Vora, analyst]

Yes. I was referring to the net finance cost which is elevated now compared to the recent quarter. So the recent quarters, the numbers which you've seen, are they the [ final ] numbers? Or would they come down? .

[Vikas Poddar, executive]

Well, like I said, I mean, it's very difficult to predict because the net finance cost is also dependent on the finance income, which is nothing but the interest that we collect on the overdues, right? So last year, we managed to collect a large part of interest both in cash as well as via the accounting adjustment that we had explained in the quarter 3 and the quarter 4 results. So that effort continues. So as and when we will collect those interest. Certainly, that will reflect in finance cost. So I don't think we can really sort of affect the current finance cost for the next couple of quarters. .

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Mr. [ Sachin Gauta ] from [indiscernible] Mumbai.

[Unknown Analyst]

My first question is I just wanted to understand a bit that your view on one of your earlier comments did mention about loading increasing from 4G to 5G. But when I look at the reported average rent pertaining to that matter, even the normalized one, it's actually not showing a meaningful increase. I presume there are other factors which is leading this entire loading not get fully reflected into the numbers. Can you throw some color on that?

[Vikas Poddar, executive]

So Sachin, sure. So I think the -- you must be referring to the ARPT, the average revenue per tenancy, which is showing a very stable sort of a number for the last few quarters. Now as we explained earlier, the ARPT is basically a function of a couple of factors. There are factors that really pull up the ARPT and there are factors that drag it down. So in terms of the loading from 4G to 5G, certainly, that basically helps the ARPT. What also helps the ARPT is the annual escalation.

But apart from this, what has been dragging down the ARPT is the mix. Because like we have explained earlier, the new towers that we are doing are basically low CapEx, and the ARPT relating to those new towers are also lower than the legacy portfolio. So to that extent, there is a bit of a drag. And then, of course, there is a renewal discount, not very significant in terms of the portfolio, but there is a drag coming from there also. So overall, with the upsides and the downsides together, we are looking at a very stable situation. But large part of the offset that's happening in the loading is the mix.

[Unknown Analyst]

Very clear. But is it fair to say that whenever we see the second anchor customer coming using a lot of towers as a second tenant, we should see an increase in ARPT, right? Because that will come.

[Vikas Poddar, executive]

ARPT is a revenue per tenancy. So obviously, with additional tenant coming in, the average revenue per tower will increase but tenancy should be stable or slightly declining because the new tenant may not come with the same load.

[Unknown Analyst]

Okay. From a loading perspective, okay. That is very clear. Second question is [indiscernible] recently concluded a 3.6 billion deal with multiple vendors. Is it fair to assume that there's not much of a contribution from that deal come into the numbers? And in subsequent quarters, we should see that flowing through? And any time line you could give from that perspective? .

[Unknown Executive]

I believe you're talking about the deal they have done for the active equipment. So as active equipment comes onboard, I think that's when the tendency will start showing up.

[Vikas Poddar, executive]

Yes. So Sachin, so obviously, there's a time lag between when they close the deal and when they start getting the equipment for rollout. So for this current quarter, obviously, there's none. We see this coming towards the mid-to-end quarter is what -- indications we get from the customer. So hopefully, this quarter, we'll see some things rolling out. .

[Unknown Analyst]

Got it. And my last question is, has anything changed for you from a Vodafone Idea perspective after the recent [ ACR ] verdict? And I'm asking that because there was this one school of thought that whenever Idea finish their trade, they may look to give a lump-sum amount in terms of whatever payables is remaining. Does that change? Or should we expect quarterly INR 7 billion to INR 8 billion kind of a payment, what we see every quarter? .

[Unknown Executive]

I can't give you the look ahead. And I think as I have informed earlier in the call is all announced, but I think we are starting receiving our overdues payments, and I think we remain engaged with the customer to get the overdues paid as fast as possible. So I think from our perspective, the time line has to be as quick as possible, but we're working with the customer to make sure we get the overviews on SP1.

[Operator]

The next question comes from Mr. Vivekanand Subbaraman from AMBIT Private Limited.

[Vivekanand Subbaraman, analyst]

Further to an earlier participant's query on the show cost notice that you received, I also note that your contingent liabilities recorded in FY '24, they include some income tax claims, again, connected to the treatment of network equipment, faster infrastructure assets. I just wanted to understand -- I know this matter is [ subsidized, ] the one that you recorded in [indiscernible]. But that is what it have any bearing on the way the income tax liabilities, for which you've recorded INR 41 billion contingent, does that have any ramification on the income tax case? That's question one. .

[Vikas Poddar, executive]

Okay. If I may just take this question, Vivekanand, I think the show cause notice that we have disclosed is with regard to GST. So it's a different matter. The contingent liability for direct tax or income tax that you're referring to is a legacy matter that has been going on for a long time. And that's basically -- goes back to almost 2010, '11, '12. So that matter is also at various levels of jurisdiction. So I think -- because we believe those matters are probably not based on the minutes of the case, not a high risk, and that's basically being disclosed as contingent liability. So these are very different. Have I understood the question right, and doesn't...

[Vivekanand Subbaraman, analyst]

I was just wondering if they are linked or are they very different?

[Vikas Poddar, executive]

They're very different, yes.

[Vivekanand Subbaraman, analyst]

Okay. So you are confirming that if even if there is an adverse verdict in respect to the AGR claims for which you received the show cause notice, doesn't rub the Income tax liabilities the wrong way. I mean, it doesn't mean that you will inherit automatically inherit the income tax liability?

[Vikas Poddar, executive]

No, no, no. These are very different matters, Vivekanand. We can maybe discuss offline. I can maybe share more details if you want. But these are very different matters.

[Vivekanand Subbaraman, analyst]

Sure. That's very clear. The second question is as far as your maintenance CapEx expenditure is concerned. Is there any lumpiness in this regard as well? Because when I look at the maintenance CapEx trajectory, I mean, when the merger had happened, it was around INR 600 crores to INR 700 crores. Now it has more than doubled in the last 4 years. So does this mean that the maintenance CapEx levels will remain elevated because the network has become bigger? Or how to think about the maintenance CapEx aspect?

[Unknown Executive]

So I think, Vivekanand, I'm not sure how you see the maintenance CapEx there. But see, before the merger, the tower count was what it was and after the merger, the tower count has decreased substantially. So I don't think there's any lumpiness as far as maintenance CapEx is concerned. It's a very standard practice that is followed in terms of how the equipment is replaced or refurbished. So I don't think there is any lumpiness on maintenance CapEx.

[Vivekanand Subbaraman, analyst]

Okay. I am calculating maintenance CapEx as the overall CapEx minus growth CapEx. I do understand that the number of towers have gone up. But even otherwise, the maintenance CapEx per tower or maintenance CapEx per cement that has moved up. That is why I was asking this question.

[Vikas Poddar, executive]

So I think just to sort of add some color to this. I mean, probably maintenance CapEx should not be looked at in that manner. Because if you're simply looking CapEx at minus growth -- by the way, we are reporting maintenance CapEx is a separate line in our investor pack, and that shows pretty sort of stable numbers quarter-on-quarter, if you look at those numbers, and in case you have the pack in front of you.

In September '24, we have spent INR 2.9 billion. And before that was INR 2.6 billion, and before that was INR 3.4 billion and so on. So it is a stable number quarter-on-quarter. Now coming to the lumpiness part of it, I think while you could see some quarterly fluctuations. But from an overall year perspective, annual perspective, it's pretty stable, consistent year-on-year.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] At this moment, there are no further questions from participants. I would now hand over the call to Mr. Prachur Sah for the final remarks.

[Prachur Sah, executive]

Thank you, Sunita. To sum up the progress we are making on each of our strategic priorities, further competitiveness leads to Indus as the leading player. Our strong financial performance is under by also supplemented by collections and faster value from a media customer. We expect the onward rollout of a major customer, coupled with the startup rollout in 5G loading other major customer to continue to drive our near to medium-term growth keeping sustainability at the core, we believe that we remain well positioned to capitalize on the growth opportunities it offer.

I thank you all for joining the call, and wish you all you a very happy Diwali. Thank you.

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the conference call. You may now disconnect your lines. Thank you for connecting to audio conference service from Airtel. Bye.