NEW DELHI: Bharti Infratel reported a 11% on-year rise in net profit in fiscal third quarter, helped by a higher net finance income and lower taxes, even though co-locations on its telecom sites continued to fall amid consolidation in sector. India’s sole listed tower company’s consolidated net profit for October-December period came in higher at Rs 648 crore, from Rs 585 crore a year back.

Quarterly consolidated revenue, however, was flat at Rs 3,640 crore, company said in a media statement Wednesday. The company’s results were announced after market hours.

Bharti Infratel's stock closed flat at Rs 277.90 on BSE Wednesday. “The consolidation and integration phase in Indian telecom industry along with exits of co-locations is largely over.

We are now looking at next phase of network and related infrastructure rollouts by operators – first for 4G and subsequently for rapidly evolving 5G, to cater to ever growing demand for data,” Akhil Gupta, chairman, Bharti Infratel said in a statement. “These would require large investments, thereby presenting potential for sizeable growth for passive infrastructure companies going forward,” he added.