Railtel Corporation Of India (RAILTEL) Q4 02/03 earnings summary

Executive summary

• FY2002-03 marked an early network-buildout phase: 9,503 route-km of OFC laid and 5,073 route-km commissioned; gross receipts were ₹9.52 crore and net loss was ₹1.16 crore.

• Core offerings included bandwidth, dark fibre and microwave tower space; customers included Bharti Cellular, BPL Mobile, Tata Tele and Dishnet DSL.

Financial highlights

• FY2002-03 gross receipts were ₹9.52 crore: ₹5.99 crore booked as gross revenue and ₹3.53 crore recorded as customer advances; receipts included ₹3.31 crore bank interest.

• P&L revenue included ₹1.79 crore bandwidth sales, ₹0.55 crore tower-space sales and ₹3.32 crore bank interest; net loss after tax was ₹1.16 crore.

• Capital expenditure on OFC laying and equipment was ₹139 crore; administrative and establishment expenses, including interest on capital, were ₹15.52 crore.

• Operating income rose to ₹2.34 crore in FY2002-03 from ₹0.03 crore in FY2001-02; loss before tax was ₹1.15 crore versus ₹0.37 crore.

Outlook and guidance

• Current-year operational revenue reached ₹4.98 crore through August 2003 against a full-year target of ₹54 crore.

• STM-16 backbone tenders covering 22,000 route-km were expected to be commissioned in phases from February to May 2004; STM-4 over 3,370 km was targeted for November 2003.

• MPLS-based IP network serving 38 cities was targeted for January 2004, enabling internet and VPN services in the final quarter of FY2003-04.

• KPMG projections indicated ₹1,238 crore earnings at the end of five years and cumulative capex of ₹1,144 crore by 2008; opportunity estimated at 5–15% of sector growth over five years.