Indus Towers bets on 5G growth and overseas expansion for revenue

Indus executives said at an earnings call Tuesday the financial friction regarding customer payments have stabilised. The company confirmed it has no overdue receivables from Vodafone Idea, one of its major customers, and payments are flowing business as usual according to the credit period offered to the telco.

In fact, Indus has seen a healthy pickup in tenancy additions from Vodafone Idea. “(A) Major customer has seen acceleration in network expansion and we are able to capture a large share of its rollouts..Our long-standing relationship by working closely with the customers in their journey of evolving network priorities and long-term deployment plans enables us to garner a larger share of the transition of portfolio as well,” said Prachur Sah, CEO, Indus Towers.

Sah added that the recent government relief regarding Vodafone Idea’s dues on adjusted-gross-revenues are expected to bring financial stability to the telco, enabling them to sustain investments in network expansion.

Indus said the industry has so far rolled out around 520,000 5G base stations. While the pace of incremental 5G rollouts have moderated, the focus has shifted to densification, which continues to drive loading revenues for the tower company.

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Currently, operators are primarily adding 5G layers to existing sites rather than building standalone 5G sites. Indus management noted that different operators are at different stages of penetration, and 100% coverage on existing sites is not yet achieved, leaving future headroom for further growth.
Future tower growth is further expected to be driven by increasing data consumption. 5G usage grew 15% sequentially in the December 2025 quarter, accounting for 35% of total data traffic, up from 32% in the June quarter. Indus said 5G subscriptions in India are projected to cross the 1 billion mark by 2031, accounting for 79% of total mobile subscriptions. As data intensity increases, this will eventually lead to capacity augmentation and new tower additions.Indus management said the December’s quarter’s performance was masked by base effect arising from significant write-backs the company made in Q3 FY25 against past dues cleared by cash-strapped Vodafone Idea, one of Indus’ major customers. Adjust for these one-off gains, the underlying business showed double-digit growth.

Indus Towers reported consolidated revenue growth of 7.9% on-year to Rs 8,146 crore in the quarter ended December 31, 2025, from Rs 7,547 crore same time last year. Net profit for the quarter was down 55.6% on-year to Rs 1,776 crore in Q3FY26, as compared to Rs 4,003 crore in the earlier period.

Indus Tower is also tapping into the global market for future engines of growth. The company has set up subsidiaries in the UAE and Africa. Company management said international expansion will focus on a build rather than buy approach.

“The current focus for us in Africa is greenfield expansion..We are in the initial stage of doing an assessment for the three countries in terms of operating know how..We are laying down the basic foundation and groundwork to offer a portfolio that is competitive in terms of value add to the customers as well,” Sah said.

Sah added that over the next few months, Indus will work on securing the licensing and regulatory approvals and finalising the supplier ecosystem and adapting their operating model to local conditions.

The initial capital requirements for this expansion will largely be funded through debt. The management is evaluating raising this debt at the UAE level or potentially through GIFT city.