According to reports from The Economic Times, Indus Towers expects revenue growth from 5G expansion, rising data usage and overseas forays in Africa and the UAE. The company's management indicated that customer payment issues have stabilised, with no overdue receivables from Vodafone Idea, one of its major customers. As reported by The Economic Times, CEO Prachur Sah noted that the recent government relief regarding Vodafone Idea's dues on adjusted-gross-revenues are expected to bring financial stability to the telco, enabling sustained investments in network expansion. The stabilization of Vodafone Idea's payments removes a major credit risk and fuels higher tenancy additions, providing predictable revenue streams and lower provision for doubtful debts.
As reported by The Economic Times, the industry has so far rolled out around 520,000 5G base stations, while the pace of incremental 5G rollouts have moderated. However, the focus has shifted to densification, which continues to drive loading revenues for the tower company. Currently, operators are primarily adding 5G layers to existing sites rather than building standalone 5G sites, with different operators at different stages of penetration. According to The Economic Times, 100% coverage on existing sites is not yet achieved, leaving future headroom for further growth. This densification strategy boosts the number of carriers per site, allowing telcos to sell higher-priced, high-capacity services without the capital intensity of new builds, translating into higher recurring lease rates and better asset utilization for tower owners.
According to The Economic Times, 5G usage grew 15% sequentially in the December 2025 quarter, accounting for 35% of total data traffic, up from 32% in the June quarter. The company projects that 5G subscriptions in India are projected to cross the 1 billion mark by 2031, accounting for 79% of total mobile subscriptions. As reported by The Economic Times, this increasing data intensity will eventually lead to capacity augmentation and new tower additions, supporting long-term revenue growth. The underlying double-digit growth once adjusted for one-off write-backs demonstrates the core business expanding at a pace that outstrips the broader tower sector, which is still grappling with modest 5G rollout rates.
As reported by The Economic Times, Indus Towers reported consolidated revenue growth of 7.9% year-on-year to ₹8,146 crore in the quarter ended December 31, 2025, compared to ₹7,547 crore in the same period last year. However, net profit for the quarter was down 55.6% year-on-year to ₹1,776 crore in Q3FY26, compared to ₹4,003 crore in the earlier period. The management noted that the December quarter's performance was masked by base effect arising from significant write-backs made in Q3 FY25 against past dues cleared by cash-strapped Vodafone Idea. The real story lies in the underlying double-digit growth once you strip out the Q3 write-backs tied to past dues from Vodafone Idea, with the core business expanding at a pace that outstrips the broader tower sector.
According to The Economic Times, Indus Towers is tapping into the global market for future growth engines. The company has set up subsidiaries in the UAE and Africa, with management indicating that international expansion will focus on a build rather than buy approach. CEO Prachur Sah explained that the current focus for Africa is greenfield expansion, with the company in the initial stage of doing assessment for three countries in terms of operating know-how. The capital needed for these projects will be raised predominantly through debt, potentially issued at the UAE level or via India's GIFT City platform. While leverage raises the cost of capital, the upside is significant: emerging markets in Africa are on the cusp of their own 5G wave, and the UAE offers a high-margin, low-competition environment for tower leasing. If Indus Towers can secure the required licenses and supplier ecosystem within the next 12-18 months, the incremental cash flow could add several hundred crore rupees annually.
