NEW DELHI: Telecom tower firm Bharti Infratel on Thursday said it has reached a settlement with four operators, including Vodafone Idea, that exited from its cell sites before the expiry of their contracts at a payment of around Rs 3,800 crore. The payments include one-time charge of Rs 2,000 crore and rental of around Rs 1,800 crore. Bharti Infratel Chairman Akhil Gupta during the company’s earnings call said that all the charges with Airtel, Tata, Telenor, Vodafone Idea have been settled for all exits that were received up to November 30, 2018.
As a snapshot, on a consolidated basis, of the the total exit charges approximately Rs 20 billion, which related to Rs 37 billion on 100 per cent basis, we had cash settlement against Rs 20 billion …,” Gupta said. He said that operators have jointly paid Rs 55 crore in cash to Bharti Infratel during the October-December 2018 period and rest of the payment will made in monthly installments with interest spread over period of 36 months.
“In line with our accounting policy Rs 550 million accounted for revenue in this quarter. Instalment amounting to approximately Rs 900 million per quarter shall be accounted for from next quarter as the revenues for the next 12 quarters,” Gupta said. He said that the third quarter of ongoing financial year recorded the highest gross tower and co-location additions in last five quarters.
