The Hindu Business Line : Global telecom cos ride on Indian operations

New Delhi, Nov 15 Indian operations are clearly driving revenues and earnings of global telecom companies including Singapore Telecommunications, Maxis Communications, Vodafone Plc and Telecom Malaysia – all of which are present in the country.

SingTel, the largest phone company in Southeast Asia, posted an increase in second quarter profit, primarily due to record earnings by Bharti Airtel in India.

Net income climbed 3.3 per cent to S$988 million (Rs 2,673 crore), in the three months ended September 30, 2007 with Bharti Airtel contributing almost 20 per cent of that at S$197 million (Rs 533 crore).

Similarly, Malaysia-based Maxis Communications Berhad’s Indian subsidiary Aircel Ltd contributed 15 per cent of the Group’s revenues during the quarter ended March 31, 2007 compared with 10 per cent in previous quarter.

Indian operations generated revenue of RM320 million (Rs 373 crore) and EBITDA of RM102 million (Rs 118 crore) towards Maxis Group’s revenues in the first quarter.

Vodafone, the world largest mobile phone company has reported a turnaround in profits after its acquisition of India-based telecoms company Hutchison Essar. The company said that its first-half revenue rose 9 per cent to £17 billion as it won over millions of India-based customers through Vodafone Essar.

Revenues from India are already among the highest earner for the Group in the emerging markets. Vodafone Essar has generated revenues of nearly £773 million (Rs 6,300 crore) since January 2007.

Telecom Malaysia, which has a 49 per cent stake in Spice Telecom reported a 9.3 per cent revenue growth during the nine-month period ended September 30, 2007 to RM 13.1 billion.

According to the company, one of the reasons for the earnings growth was gain on the listing of Spice Communications Ltd in India. Spice Telecom’s revenue stood at RM 636 million (Rs 741 crore) during the period.