Altius Telecom — Q2 FY26 earnings call

the data consumption in India is continuing to grow. So, if you look at the smartphone penetration, today is 48%. That gives you a big headroom to grow. Combine it with the growth of internet penetration in the rural country. So, a combination of these two factors will cause more consumption of data consumption. That will require the network capacity to be augmented to support the demand.

Addresses the core growth thesis for tower companies despite 5G rollout completion by major telcos, highlighting continued demand drivers like smartphone penetration and rural internet growth.

Asked by Vivekanand S

energy essentially is a pass-through in this industry. What we do is, it isn't that we make a lot of money on energy. It's just that it's in the nature of pass-through and due to seasonalities, some quarters or some half years appear to be better than other quarters. But overall, this is from a TowerCo perspective, it is a zero-sum game.

Clarifies that energy costs are a pass-through, dispelling the notion of significant profit generation from energy, which is a common query for tower companies.

Asked by Vivekanand S

So, Saurabh there is an element. So, one is what you say, that is right. There will be a few tenancies with the operators which may not have come here. The other one is also about some of these small cells, which don't necessarily get captured as part of this count of 860,000 and the BSNL number is obviously a guesswork because BSNL does not disclose its towers.

Addresses analyst's concern about discrepancies in reported tower market size, explaining factors like uncaptured tenancies and BSNL's non-disclosure.

Asked by Saurabh Handa

It's a demand supply market, right? The customer always has a right to ask for discounts. And we are in the value game. We are not in the discounting game. But typically, the contract allows for a certain number of exits at the end of the tenure. We haven't seen any surprises so far beyond that. ... mass movement of sites from one tower co to other tower co... is not a viable solution for that.

Explains the dynamics of contract renewals, acknowledging potential for discount requests but emphasizing the difficulty and disruption for tenants to switch TowerCos, thus mitigating churn risk.

Asked by Saurabh Handa

small cells is a function. So, you will need small cells wherever there is a densification requirement. So, as you see more of the 5G slicing, you will see small cells come into much more denser areas like CBDs. But do I see it distributed across? Answer, maybe no. So, that's where our portfolio, which is an end-to-end portfolio across small cells and macro cells, complements each other.

Clarifies the role of small cells in 5G densification and how Altius's diverse portfolio addresses both macro and small cell needs, ensuring relevance in evolving network architectures.

Asked by Balaji

foremost, our tenancies with Reliance are plotting for 30 years, as you noted as well. It will not be fair on my part to comment on what Jio decides to do with other tower companies or what their opportunity sizing is. So, I will defer that. It's a question best answered by Jio.

Analyst probes a significant potential market share opportunity related to expiring Jio contracts with other TowerCos, but management defers, indicating either competitive sensitivity or lack of specific insight.

Asked by Balaji

If you look from the financials, probably you do see the numbers being different for the two entities. But that is largely because both the entities operate under distinct MSAs and commercial framework. So, for this, we have some accounting standards that are differently applied to the two entities.

Addresses an analyst's observation of cost differences between acquired entities, attributing it to accounting and commercial frameworks rather than uncaptured operational synergies, suggesting integration is on track.

Asked by Arun Prasath

for Roam Digitel right now, we don't have any operations there. So, it continues to be a company with no operations. But otherwise, you know, within the three entities of Summit, Elevar and Crest, all our decision making happens at a platform level. ... as and when there is demand, we kind of obviously, as I earlier also alluded to, we have a very robust, you know, lens of risk adjusted rate of return. If it kind of passes that lens, we consider the capex.

Clarifies the non-operational status of Roam Digitel and reiterates a demand-driven, risk-adjusted approach to capex for the integrated platform.

Asked by Abhijit Nadkarni