Indus Towers Limited ($INDUSTOWER)

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I am Michelle, the moderator for this conference. Welcome to Indus Towers Limited Fourth Quarter and Full Year ended March 31, 2026 earnings call. [Operator Instructions] Present with us on the call today is the senior leadership team of Indus Towers. Before I hand over the call, I must remind you that the overview and discussions today may include certain forward-looking statements that must be viewed in conjunction with the risks that we see. I now hand over the call to our first speaker of the day, Mr. Prachur Sah. Thank you, and over to you, Mr. Sah.

Thank you, Michelle, and a very warm welcome to all participants. Joining me today are my colleagues, Mr. Vikas Poddar, CFO; Mr. Tejinder Kalra, COO; and Mr. Dheeraj Agarwal, Head, Investor Relations on the call. Today, I will talk about our business performance for the quarter and year ending on March 31, 2026. FY '26 was marked by strong colocation additions and continued tower additions reflects our strong execution capabilities, exceptional service to our customer, underpins our competitiveness strength to capture a meaningful share of customers' network expansion. Gradual improvement in the financial position of a major customer, aided by the government support provides visibility of strong business momentum. Overall, FY '26 was another year of solid progress with strong operational and financial performance. With the improved financial situation of one of the customers and the potential business momentum, the Board has recommended final dividend of INR 14 per share. Before delving deeper into our business performance, I would like to acknowledge the exceptional commitment of our workforce, whose ability to overcome geographic and climatic challenges enables consistent delivery of reliable round-the-clock connectivity nationwide. During the quarter, our southern parts of Northeast experienced severe weather conditions, which significantly disrupted the movement of our on-ground workforce. Despite these challenges, our field teams acted swiftly to restore services, stabilizing connectivity and effectively preventing any major disruption. On the regulatory front, the Ministry of Finance introduced intensive link schemes to encourage states to align the RoW rules 2024. With an allocation of INR 4,000 crores to states, the scheme is expected to accelerate approvals and ease deployment bottlenecks. Green Energy Open Access policy has now been operationalized across all states, reinforcing the sector's transition towards cleaner and more sustainable energy sources. This is expected to help reduce the energy costs for Towercos. Additionally, Central Electricity authority, CEA, has modified the installation and operations of meters, regulations 2026 mandating smart meters for all customers in areas with communication networks. In this context, we are actively collaborating with stakeholders at both central and state levels to deploy smart meters across our cities which will enhance operational efficiency, optimize energy costs and enable more granular scalable billing mechanisms. Moving to update on 5G networks. The installed base of 5G BTS now stands at close to 531,000. As large-scale deployments stabilize, rising data demand and network densification are giving the need for incremental capacity on existing infrastructure supporting sustained loading [ less ] revenue growth. Over time, this is also expected to be complemented by selective expansion of the tower footprint. Backed by strong customer relationships and a robust operating platform, Indus is well placed to capitalize on these opportunities and support the evolving requirements of next-generation networks. As per the latest [ trial ] report, total 5G subscription base in India stood at over 391 million by the end of December 2025, growing by 30 million in Q3 FY '26. India's data consumption momentum remains robust, driven by the continued migration of users towards 4G and 5G. As per TRAI's latest publication, total data consumption and average monthly data usage per user grew by 29% and 21% year-on-year, respectively. According to TRAI, 5G usage alone grew 21% quarter-over-quarter, accounting for 40% of the total data traffic in Q3 FY '26, up from 35% in Q2 FY '26. Continued growth in data usage is encouraging operators to enhance capacity across existing infrastructures. With a pan-India presence with expansive tower portfolio and a strong execution track record, Indus Towers remains well positioned to partner with customers in meeting their evolving network requirements. In terms of operational performance, we registered strong colocation additions during the quarter driven by pickup -- by the customers' network expansion and our ability to capture a major share of the customer sellouts. We added 4,892 macro towers and 6,192 corresponding co-locations during the quarter, translating into a year-on-year growth of 6.1% and 5.6% in tower and colocation base, respectively. As a result, total macro tower and colocations stood at around 264,500 and 428,000, respectively. On a full year basis, tower and co-location additions were around 15,200 and 22,500, respectively. Our industry-leading tenancy ratio was stable at 1.62x. Our colocations of leaner towers should get more than 14,000 including leaner towers, our portfolio stood at approximately 442,000 at the end of the year. I will now provide an update on our key KPIs. We remain committed to reducing retail consumption by transitioning to cleaner sources of energy. We added close to 2,500 sites with solar access during the quarter, taking the overall size to about 42,400. Diesel consumption on our sites reduced by about 7% year-on-year in Q4 FY '26. This is despite 6% year-on-year increase in colocations and continued equipment loading on the sites. Navigating extreme weather conditions, the dedication and perseverance of our teams on the ground helped us deliver an industry best of time of [ 99.977% ] in Q4 FY '26. Let me now move to our strategic pillars, market share, cost efficiency, network up time and sustainability. On market share, we continue to strengthen our position. We remain a preferred partner for our key customers that enables us to capture a significant share of the network rule out. Network expansion was robust across major customers, allowing us to improve our market share and new deployments. We're able to deliver reliable service at competitive rates, supported by strong execution and stringent quality standards has been central to this performance. Targeted technical interventions and customized product offerings have further contributed to cost optimization and improvement in overall delivery. In our nontower segment, we achieved leadership position in the IBS space in Q4. Our [indiscernible] business also saw a pickup with increased deployments in metros, tunnels and highways. With a focus on build-to-suit solutions and continued technological advancement, this segment is well positioned for further growth. Our discipline and operational excellence are embedded in our ways of working with a continued focus on improving efficiency, enhancing predictability and structurally resetting our cost base. We made targeted interventions across tower strengthening, civil and electrical works, supply chain-led cost optimization and [ partner score ] rationalization, while ensuring site safety and service reliability. Energy efficiency is a central driver of our cost reduction efforts. During the year, we scaled deployment of energy-efficient solutions, including broader solar integration and accelerated deployment of advanced battery technologies. Over the last two years, as mentioned earlier, we have ramped up our solar deployment and provided solar access to about 28,000 sites during this period. We have also progressively increased the share of lithium mine batteries across our portfolio. These initiatives are structurally reducing diesel dependency, improving uptime and supporting a more resilient and lower cost energy framework. We also continue to strengthen our approach towards CapEx management, financing cost discipline, standardizing tower cost and tightening execution controls across tower deployments. Thirdly, service reliability remains a core priority with continued focus on maintaining industry-leading standards across our operations. We are leveraging advanced digital tools and data platforms to enhance service delivery by the way of enabling faster issue resolution and implementing a more proactive data-driven approach to address customers' needs. FY '26 marks a step-up in digital and AI-led transformation. For example, over 85% of our sites are now digitally connected, covering key systems such as fuel sensors, backhaul monitoring, smart meters and [ pump ] equipment among others. The deployment of AI and machine learning capabilities have enabled proactive identification of outages, automated root cause analysis and improved resolution effectiveness. Initiatives such as AI-based voice agents for technician calling and computer vision led validation of preventive maintenance activities have enhanced field productivity, standardization and compliance while delivering high levels of accuracy. Energy Management, as I mentioned earlier, remains an important area to focus with the implementation of an end-to-end automated fuel management platform, enabling real-time planning of diesel usage, logistics optimization and full validation. These interventions are improving cost efficiency and operational control. In parallel, we have progressed our digital [ twin ] journey through site service image platform, enabling planning teams with a unified view of site to optimize asset utilization and improve civil and electrical planning. We are progressing well on our ESG agenda as well. During the year, we undertook a double materiality assessment and a comprehensive climate risk assessment across our operations, enhancing our understanding of physical and transition risks and embedding resilience into long-term planning. Following the approval of our near-term net zero targets by Science-based Target Initiative, SBTI, we have formulated a decarbonization road map to guide progress towards these commitments. On the workplace, [indiscernible] improved from 16.2% in FY '25 to 18.3% in FY '26. During the year, we launched our digital lead program to advance digital and AI capabilities across the organization. We also launched [indiscernible] led mentoring program to inspire and uplift the many employees. We undertook campaigns and targeted training focused on road safety and technicians working at heights. In CSR, as part of our flagship program sections, in association with the [indiscernible] Foundation, we have supported over 30 [indiscernible] schools and 1,100 government schools across multiple states and union territories under the quality support program. Additionally, our digital transformation plan has touched over 646,000 lives in FY '26. As part of our other flagship program, Pragati, we conducted disaster relief measures across the nation, positively impacting close to 3,000 households. Through these programs, we managed to touch around 33 million lives by end of FY '26. On the governance front, we maintain high levels of governance, integrity and transparency. To drive ESG adoption across our value chain, we instituted the ESG pathfinder awards with the objective of recognizing who have demonstrated meaningful commitment towards advancing sustainability initiatives. Our CSR efforts throughout the year were recognized by multiple bodies as the company was awarded the Mahatma Award for CSR Excellence and recognized for sustainable and responsible business amongst the others. I will now provide a brief update on our progress on Africa expansion. We are making steady progress on Africa foray with key operational and structural building blocks largely in place across our target markets. In Zambia, we have secured the operating license and are now advancing on ground execution. In Uganda and Nigeria, we are in the last stages of getting regulatory approvals. Commercial frameworks are largely established with the primary customer and initial orders are in place. In parallel, we have made good progress in setting up supply chain ecosystem, standing operational readiness, positioning us well for efficient and scalable deployment. We expect the rollouts will begin soon and will ramp up positively as approvals come through. Overall, our strategy in Africa remains. It's a long-term strategy and remains to create differentiation through better cost per tower delivering better SLA, uptime and higher energy efficiency. By doing this and remaining competitive commercially in line with the local market, we believe in long term to be a major player in Africa tower business. Geopolitical developments due to the war in West Asia have created near-term supply-side disruptions impacting tower availability, deployment time lines and cost structures, primarily through energy supply constraints and input cost inflation. We continue to monitor the situation closely and mitigating actions are being taken in line with the evolving geopolitical and market conditions. With regards to rewarding the shareholders, we are pleased to announce that the Board has recommended a final dividend of INR 14 per share, reflecting our commitment towards returning cash to shareholders. As was informed earlier, the Board considered and decided to reduce shareholder payouts, while remaining aligned with our disciplined capital allocation approach and ongoing investment clarities. The endeavor would be to follow a steady and progressive distribution. I would now request Vikas to take you through our financial performance for the quarter and year ending March 31, 2026. And I look forward to your questions. Over to you, Vikas. Thank you.

Thank you, Prachur, and good afternoon, everyone. I'm pleased to present our financial results for the quarter and year ending 31st March 2026. FY '26 saw strong colocation additions supported by continued customer network expansion, sustained business momentum and positive developments at our customers and underpin our financial performance. In terms of financial performance for quarter 4 FY '26, total revenues were at INR 81 billion, growing by 4.8% year-on-year. Core revenues from rentals stood at INR 53.1 billion, up 5.4% year-on-year, driven by healthy colocation additions. Please note that quarter 4 of last year had onetime reconciliation benefits. I explained in quarter 4 FY '25 earnings call that the benefits added about 2.1 percentage points to the sequential growth in core revenues. With regard to quarter 4 FY '26, our reported gross revenues were 0.6% lower quarter-on-quarter due to lower energy revenue which is an outcome of both our cost optimization and seasonality driven by the reduction in the energy cost. Core revenues increased by 0.6% quarter-on-quarter impact of onetime settlement in quarter 4 and network optimization by our customers [indiscernible] overall growth in revenue. On profitability, reported EBITDA was at INR 44.6 billion, growing by 1.6% year-on-year and declining 1% quarter-on-quarter. The EBITDA margin was lower by 1.8 percentage points year-on-year and 0.2 percentage points quarter-on-quarter at 55.1% for quarter 4 FY '26. I would like to remind you that quarter 4 FY '25 included write-backs of approximately $2.3 billion related to collection of overdue receivables from a major customer. Quarter 4 last year also included accounting impact of towers acquired from Airtel amounting to INR 1.7 billion towards operating expenses and depreciation. Adjusted for the write-back and accounting impact, EBITDA was up 4.5% year-on-year. The sequential decline in EBITDA was partially due to higher network costs, which increased primarily due to higher maintenance activities on our gauging and growing our portfolio. Our energy margins were at negative 3.6% in quarter 4 FY '26 compared to negative 5.2% in the same period last year. We continue to undertake cost optimization initiatives, particularly around energy management. This includes structural reduction in diesel dependence through increased adoption of renewable energy solutions, battery augmentation and continued focus on our operational efficiencies. These efforts are complemented by technology-led monitoring and disciplined execution, enabling a more predictable and efficient energy cost refining. Our profit after tax grew by 0.8% year-on-year and 0.9% quarter-on-quarter to INR 17.9 billion. The moderate year-on-year growth is a result of higher base due to onetime reconciliation benefits in quarter 4 last year, as I explained earlier. Now moving on to full year performance for FY '26. Our reported gross revenue stood at INR 325 billion, growing by 7.9% year-on-year, while core revenues were up 9% year-on-year to [ INR 109 billion ]. Reported EBITDA was INR 180 billion, down 13.8% year-on-year, and profit after tax stood at INR 71.4 billion, a decrease of 28.1% year-on-year. Finally note that the FY '25 included a substantial write-back of INR 51 billion relating to collection of overdue receivables from a major customer. So on a normalized basis, excluding one-offs, EBITDA and PAT grew by 11.4% and 13%, respectively. Our return ratios remained largely stable with reported pretax return on capital employed and post-tax return on equity standing at 20.2% and 19.8%, respectively, on a trailing 12-month basis. We had significant free cash flow generation of INR 11.1 billion in quarter 4 and INR 37.6 billion in full year FY '26. And subsequently, the Board has recommended final dividend of INR 14 per share, reflecting improved visibility on cash flows and our commitment to reward shareholders. To conclude, FY '26 reflects strong financial performance underpinned by healthy colocation additions and disciplined execution and our ability to capture a major share of rollouts by our key customers. Ongoing demand momentum and consistent collections, along with our focus on cost optimization and operational efficiencies, provide strong visibility into future cash generation. So with this, I will now hand it back to the moderator to open the floor for questions. Thank you.

[Operator Instructions] The first question is from the line of Rishabh from HSBC.

Thanks for the opportunity and congrats to management for dividend distribution. And starting from the -- so we have paid around 100% of this year's free cash flow. But how should we think about the additional free cash flow we had received or generated last year which was on account of reversal of dues from [ BI ]. If I'm not mistaken, there are also supposed to be made available for distribution. And secondly, I would like to understand more about the CapEx going forward. Understand the green CapEx companies making and higher maintenance required on the aging portfolio. But if you can have some guidance over the next couple of years, how should we [ see ] CapEx spend as it directly impacts the free cash flow and dividends.

Maybe I'll answer the first part, then you can take up the CapEx on [indiscernible]. See, the Board evaluated the FCF situation and the debt levels that we want to maintain and decided accordingly to distribute the FCF of FY '26. And as I mentioned, the endeavor will remain to follow steady and progressed the distribution going forward. So that's the thinking behind the dividend. Maybe Vikas, you can touch base on the Capital [indiscernible]?

Yes. So thanks for the question, Rishabh. I think on the CapEx, just to give you the big picture and as we have also explained earlier, 70% of the CapEx that we spend is growth oriented, which basically leads to growth in our revenue and bottom line. And just about 25% is basically something that goes towards replacement, maintenance and so on. So I think as long as there is growth and there is basically tower build order, et cetera. I think the CapEx will sort of be steered towards that. As far as the future guidance is concerned, I think we still have a very healthy order book. So while we don't give any sort of forward-looking numbers, but broadly speaking, I think we are sort of looking at a very good order book, and we continue to see growth rate and CapEx going forward.

Just a couple of follow-up. On the free cash and the debt that you had mentioned that ex these liabilities, we are sitting on net cash, right. So is there anything that the management is foreseeing on a major investment area so that we want to maintain our debt levels? And you have mentioned the order book remains healthy. Does this order book includes expansion in Africa as well? Or is it just India?

No. I think what Vikas is referring is primarily to the order book of India. And as I mentioned in my commentary, I think the Africa expansion is just starting. It's a long-term strategy. So the portion of CapEx for Africa is not going to be that significant to start with. So I think its order book that he's referring to is primarily on the India side. And as far as the debt is concerned, I think keeping capital allocation in mind and all the growth opportunities coming up, that's where the Board decision came to distribute the FCF for FY '26.

The next question is from the line of Sachin Salgaonkar from Bank of America.

I have two questions. First question, Vikas, I just wanted to clarify on the dividend policy. Prachur did mention a steady and progressive distribution, is there a dividend policy? Or is it more ad hoc where every year, the Board will consider based on the cash flows and plan and give dividend? And if there is a dividend policy, then can you clarify what is your dividend policy?

Yes. Sure, Sachin. So the dividend policy is, first of all, available on our website. Broadly, what it says is the company and the Board will consider distribution of the free cash flow of the company at the year-end, subject to the working capital requirements of the company and subject to a few other conditions. So based on that, even for this year, the free cash flow of the company, the financial results that sector was presented. And the Board decided to distribute the full cash generation of this year as a dividend, which is what is reflected in the INR 14.

No minimum [indiscernible] kind of an amount which is our debt. Every year, the Board will consider that?

That's right.

Got it. Second question, one of your major customer contract has expired and from what we understand that customer has not renewed the contract. Can you give some color and updates here? And if the customer decides not to renew contracts and what kind of impact could we see?

So Sachin, first of all, I think there is -- we have contracts for each tower, right? So I think there is no broad contract expiry. I think there are certain tenancies which fall under that bucket. It's not the entire portfolio. Secondly, I think if you look from our portfolio point of view, over the last 3, 4 years, we have built quite a bit of resiliency by deploying large-scale towers and colocation. So that portfolio is actually [indiscernible] the expired portfolio is actually a very small portion of the entire portfolio. So while we continue to work with the customer to see how we can continue to provide the stickiness, providing high levels of service. But over the last 3, 4 years and continuously, what we are doing, we are trying to mitigate any such risk that is there, right? So we'll keep the situation, we'll keep [indiscernible] and keep growing the portfolio across other customers as well.

Got it. And when I look at your tenancy ratio for last 3, 4 years, it has come down and continues to come down. So directionally, that's the trajectory we should think about going ahead as well, right?

I would not give you an outlook in that format because, see, the last few years was determined by deploying tenancies -- towers for one major customer, [indiscernible] the second customer comes on board and sharing and giving a colocation on existing tower is beneficial for both customer and us in terms of what the cost efficiency brings. So after the second customer comes and get their network expansion growing. I would not say the trend will continue in that direction. However, it is depending on the pace on how the second customer comes [indiscernible].

I'll just add, Sachin, I think if you look at the trend for the last 5, 6 quarters, we have been very stable, which basically means there is basically more tenancy or more colocation addition than the tower additions, right? So I think the stability is a good thing. And going forward, as the second customer comes on board, we might actually see some improvement also.

And lastly, one small follow-up out there. You did mention on Africa, you're on talks with primary customers. Beyond the primary customer, are you in talks with some incremental customers out there? Or as of now, the focus is only on one customer out there?

So I think, Sachin, we are talking to other customers as well. But as I said in the previous call as well as our long-term strategy is to get started and establish ourselves with the anchor customer. And I think as we'll be present in the market, of course, if we are offering better competitive prices -- sorry, cost, SLA and efficiency, the second customer would also be affected to come towards us. So I think that discussions are far more advanced with the anchor customer and the other customers are being engaged depending on where we are getting the [indiscernible].

The next question is from the line of Vivekanand Subbaraman from AMBIT Private Limited.

So if [indiscernible] internal income growth adjusted for some of the one-offs. My inference is that the revenue growth is around 4.7% year-on-year. Could you help us understand the key drivers of this in terms of, let's say, escalation -- revenue increased contribution from escalation and new towers and tenancies and negative effect of discounts if any.

I'll take that, Vivekanand. I think, see, I guess you're referring to the full year growth of 9% that we have reported. Am I right, service revenue?

So I was referring to the 4Q FY '26 rental income. And I just took out some of the one-off that was there in the base period. And also the inorganic -- the tower purchases that you have done strip that revenue out as well from both periods to arrive at 4.7%.

Well, I think I'll just maybe explain the number that we have reported. I don't know how the 4.7% is being calculated. Maybe we can take that offline. But for the quarter, we have reported service revenue year-on-year growth of 5.3%. So as you can see, that's largely driven by the colocation growth. If you look at our colocation numbers year-on-year, you will see a growth of 5.6%. And then the other growth drivers are typically the annual escalations that we have on our sites as and when they complete the anniversary. Also bear in mind, like I explained in my narrative, there was a onetime settlement benefit in the same quarter of last year that added 2.1 percentage point to our growth. So broadly, I mean, if you adjust for that, then we are closer to 7% growth in the quarter year-on-year, 7%, 7.5%.

Right. But then the 7.5% growth is also because you acquired towers from Airtel at the end of the quarter, right, last year?

Yes. There was an inorganic element in that.

Yes. Organic growth will be close to 5% still, right? Or is there...

Yes, 5%, 5.5%. That's right.

Okay. So just to build further on this, the 5.5% growth, if I look at it against the backdrop of colocation growth of 5.6% annual escalation of 2.5%, why is the growth so muted compared to 7% growth?

So like I explained, there was also just like we had a reconciliation onetime settlement benefit in the same quarter of last year. This year, we had some impact. So as a result, the growth was also slightly muted because of that. And it is not fully reflecting the growth in the footprint.

Fair enough. Understood. And there are prognosis in terms of the order book visibility and organic growth adjusted for some of these factors, how should we think about it, let's say, for FY '27 and [indiscernible] if you have any color...

Vivekanand, I think I would hesitate in giving numbers because as you know, we really don't give any forward-looking numbers. But broadly, I think in terms of the rollout momentum and all, of course, the -- while I mentioned that the order book is healthy. But at the same time, we need to also take into consideration the fact that there is a supply chain disruption that we are facing because we are in the middle of a geopolitical situation. I think [indiscernible] can elaborate that maybe later on. But we need to be a bit cautious when we talk about forward-looking views.

Yes. So I think as Vikas was mentioning, there is a strong order book looking ahead as well for the next few quarters. However, I think given the situation, and there is a little bit of a tightness in the market in terms of tower supplies because that is dependent on LPG availability. Having said that, we have managed to mitigate some of those things by planning by supply chain working with the partners, et cetera. So hence, looking forward, there are some factors which are not entirely predictable, but at the basis of it, the order books look strong. Whatever supply chain disruptions happen, we are putting efforts to mitigate that and continue to deploy towers to make the order book.

Okay, great. My last question is on the dividend. So at the time of the board resolution that you had sought to acquire towers from Airtel, you had mentioned that the funding of those towers will happen using debt. And also the commentary in prior periods had suggested that there will be some element of distribution of fiscal cash flow also -- cash accruals also, which the management perhaps at a certain point of time, maybe last year, the management had taken a view that it was in the best interest of conservatism to hold on to that cash. Why has that cash not being released and only the cash flow generated for FY '26 being decided to [indiscernible]?

So honestly speaking, I don't think the Board compartmentalized the cash flows in that category. I think what the Board did is they [indiscernible] the full FCF, looked at the debt level that we want to maintain and decided to distribute the FCF by FY '26. And as I said earlier, the Board is committed to distribute the FCF to the shareholders and try to maintain the steady and progressive distribution going forward. Anything else on that?

I think it's a very holistic view on needs to take. I mean, see, we are in a very dynamic situation, right? And basically, given the current situation, the current debt levels, et cetera. I think the Board has fully considered all aspects and finally decided to distribute dividends to the extent of about INR 37 billion, INR 38 billion which -- I mean, whichever way you look at it, I mean, like what you said, I mean, you just can't compartmentalize all these things within, let's say, how much is pertaining to that particular transaction and how much is from this year's cash and so on. But broadly, how we are looking at it is the cash flow for full year has been fully distributed.

The next question is from the line of Sanjesh Jain from ICICI Securities.

Yes. I have a few. First from maintenance part, which you spoke, which has led to higher cost because in the opening demand. Just wanted to understand, was this a onetime exercise or you think because the towers have been aging now, this will be an annual phenomena for us and hence, the cost base has got reset?

So Sanjesh, I don't think that is the case. What -- if you look at typically, historically as well, I think Q4 is typically marked by two things. One is -- this is Q3 and Q4 are the quarters where we have a clear [ ladder ]. So a lot of the operational and tower maintenance activities are scheduled in this part of the quarter because [indiscernible] support it. And secondly, in Q4 as well, what we are doing is we're preparing for the coming season. So I think typically, the network maintenance activities are [indiscernible] sided towards Q3 and Q4. However, if you remember in Q1 call itself, what we've done is we have taken a conscious effort to spend a certain part of cost on improving the tower -- doing more tower maintenance, strengthening activities as the portfolio is at a certain age. However, it is not a structural cost that is going to permanently increase. There are some parts which are routine activities that is going to be continuously done with the rigor of making sure it is done. So I don't think the -- I would say the cost base is fundamentally reset. I think our cost per tower still remains in line or actually if you look at the holistic picture from the last 3, 4 years, our cost per tower has actually gone down. But there are certain elements of cost on absolute costs that show up. So just look at the tower count and look at the cost of that [indiscernible].

Sanjesh, I just want to add one thing for perspective. I mean, while you're looking at the 3 months, but what is also important is to look at the full year, right? So sometimes you have basically activities skewed towards a particular quarter. But from a full year perspective, what you will see is the tower cost or maintenance cost increase is not even reflecting the volume increase because we are offsetting a lot of these increases either due to volume or aging portfolio, et cetera, through the various efficiency initiatives that we are driving.

So because it's more like a seasonality, it sounds like a seasonality rather than a maintenance...

In a way, you could say seasonality because it...

Sanjesh, operations is never binary in that sense. I think seasonality, portfolio maintenance, I think all this comes together, and that's what we're [ calculating ]. We have to look at the full year, you have to look at the volume of towers being added and look at the cost from that perspective.

Just second question on the single tenancy tower. The assumption was that as the Vodafone scales up, the single tenancy parks will come down. We don't have data for this quarter. But if I analyze the data for Q3, it appears that we have added more single tenancy tower, not just accommodating party, but also accommodating Vodafone. Will the strength continues? And what is driving additional tenancy addition for Vodafone? I thought we have covered well pan-India during the [indiscernible] rollout.

I'm not [indiscernible] on the question, but let me try to answer. At the end of the day, both in Q3 and Q4, if I'm not wrong, correct me, [ someone ], our colocation additions have been higher than the tower addition. So fundamentally, there are single tenancy towers that getting converted to the [indiscernible]. So that is the first point. Secondly, for any customer to expand, they have their own network expansion strategy. So while bulk may come through second as a colocation addition, but there will be some single tenant towers as well being added. So any customer when expand look at both. The first strategy is to come as a [indiscernible] the network requirements of their network design will be based on the addition of a tower, whether it's a single tenant or multi-tenant, so I will leave it at that.

No. Just let me probably clarify on that question. Last quarter, we added 3,800 new towers. Our [indiscernible] went up by 1,150, 1,200, that means we have added around 2,000 more tasks in previous quarter than [indiscernible], which I would attribute it to Vodafone, which was appear to reflect a large number. [indiscernible] our addition for Vodafone. [indiscernible] was that considering both side have an 1,800 megahertz frequency RF planning, they would -- a lot will overlap each of this network, but it appears that we will require to add more tower when Vodafone rollout starts.

Sanjesh, I think -- bear the correction. I think the assumption that every single tower that the difference that you mentioned between 1,100 and 3,000 is coming from the other customer, I think there's some gap to that because there are certain towers we also add for either customer where while they may not see a net addition in their portfolio, but it is typically at the end of the tenure, they move certain towers from other incumbents to [indiscernible] or the [ other one ], right? So I think there is a portfolio that we also add in our setup, which is moving the tower of the tenancy from someone else to Indus. So I think it's not a direct subtraction that total Indus minus one customer is equal to the other customers. So I think there's a big element of movement of towers from one tower company to other, which is not a net addition for a customer.

That's fair enough. Good point. Just one last question on Africa. When should we expect operations to start? Probably 6 months down the line will be a fair assumption?

As I mentioned earlier, I think we are at a very close stage of starting our first tower deployment in Zambia. I think 6 months is more than a fair estimate. I think it's probably earlier than that. But we are -- we've got the license, and we are on the ground now. So yes, we are looking to put our first tower very soon.

Got it. And we have set up [indiscernible], right, in Africa? Or we will do it through India?

I think we will find a solution. I think we'll have to depend whether we manage from here or whether we do it locally. I think you'll have to see it. But I think as of now, the focus is to deploy the towers.

We'll take the next question from the line of Arun Prasath from [ Spark ].

Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for the opportunity. In regards -- a question, once again, going to the sequential drop in the EBITDA that we have said. Okay. If I put it on a per tower basis, how we are looking at it? Is that there is a drop in EBITDA per tower on a sequential basis, roughly around INR 1,500 per tower per month. But not everything is coming from the same maintenance because, again, on a per tower basis, on a reported basis, it is just contributing 20 percentage the increase -- decrease is coming from the maintenance. It seems large part of the EBITDA per tower decrease on a sequential basis is coming from the revenue per [indiscernible] revenue per tower. So can you help us reconcile this difference?

So Arun, I think there are basically more than -- there's more than one reason for this. So of course, there is -- like I explained, there is some one-off sitting in the revenue, which is because of the settlements that have happened in quarter 4. So that's impacting the top line as well as the EBITDA. Apart from that, if you see the other lines, I think even the network maintenance, as we were explaining, is growing 5.6% quarter-on-quarter which is largely driven by the activities, maintenance activities, et cetera, that we undertook in quarter 4. So that has impacted. Apart from that, if you look at the other expenses, we had some one-off there also, and that is also basically showing a big quarter-on-quarter increase because of the one-off benefits sitting in the previous quarter. So there are basically 2, 3 reasons why EBITDA sequential performance in quarter 4 has been slightly worse off than the previous quarter. But broadly, I mean, we are still talking about a 55% EBITDA margin, which is quite healthy. And from a full year perspective, I think we are pretty much in line with our expectation of 55% plus sort of an EBITDA level.

Okay. The one-offs that you are saying, that is there in the Q3? Or -- and on the revenue side, you are saying that the negative one-off, is there on the revenue only on the Q4 but on the cost side, you are saying that one-off is there in the Q3 cost?

That's right. So there is a positive one-off in Q3 and there is a negative one-off in Q4. So somewhere that is -- the impact of that is getting more pronounced in the EBITDA.

Okay. No problem. I'll take this off-line separately. My second question, again, I don't want to look at it from the Q4 basis. But if I look at it from the second half basis, I see two trends. One is that our exits in the second half is why is [indiscernible] our usual annual run rate, I'm talking about second after '26. Second, our energy margins in second half is again better than either the first or the second half in the previous year. This is something that is -- how should we look at this?

So I think -- see, I'll answer both of them one by one operationally and then you can comment on the numbers. See, as far as the -- [indiscernible] concern and the churn is concerned, I think it is -- I mean, most of the churns are BAU, business as usual kind of a churn. And I think typically, if you look at, they'll typically get replaced by [indiscernible] tenancy. And it is typically done because of safety reasons or land of renewals. So the number is not that concerning for us because typically, these are offset by a relocation site that we make, right? So from a tenancy point of view, there is no loss, right? And so this is an operational churn that we -- in a large portfolio like this, we expect this to happen. On the energy margin, I mean we have discussed this earlier as well. H2 seasonally is much better than H1. So by default, the operating cost or the impacts or the variations that we see are lower in the second half than in first half. So if you look historically as well, H1 has a -- so it's primarily -- H2 is primarily driven by a seasonal improvement but H1 is primarily impacted by a seasonal impact. So I think unless...

I don't think there's anything major sort of something different that I have to say. I think what is very important to bear in mind is H1 has clearly more weather-related impacts and weather disruptions in our operation. H2 is generally better from that perspective. And hence, most of the maintenance and safety activities that we undertake are more skewed towards H2, which basically means as and when we build new towers and try to relocate from unsafe towers and so on, you see more exits in H2 than H1. Right? So there's always a seasonality angle in our business.

Energy margins in H2 is even lower than the last year's H2. So that is like-to-like comparison, right? How do you explain that?

See, energy margin, Arun, I would suggest -- one is energy margin is a function of revenue and cost and how we settle the differences, right? The seasonality will clearly show you the cost trend, and you will see the cost trend is better than H2 versus H1. The margin trend is a function of when you are settling things. And if we are settling things more in H2 than to that extent, I think it is a function of how things are getting settled at the timing of settlement, right? So I would say is don't read too much into the margin. When it comes to margin, timing wise, things could vary, look at full year. When it comes to cost, look at seasonality.

Yes. I think look at the margin on a year-on-year basis. If I'm not wrong, I think the margin this year is same or even slightly better than last year. So I think look at a full year from a [indiscernible] perspective.

While we are on this energy margin topic, just hypothetically say the diesel price or electricity price has to go up, our margins on -- absolute margins will remain, say, as a percentage, will it remain same [indiscernible] absolute negative margin and [indiscernible] or the other way around, the negative energy margin remains same, but as a percentage, it will reduce?

See, at the end of the day, the change in -- When it happens as a price, it impacts revenue and cost, right? So it impacts both revenue and costs on almost a similar basis. So from a reconciliation perspective, I think the percentage may change because there will be some sort of an absolute difference, but it will not be a material change from a percentage margin point of view. Of course, the cost and revenue will change accordingly.

So my understanding is if percentage remains same, then increases...

Yes. I would not say exactly the same. I think there will be an impact on the margin still, but the larger impact will be seen on the absolute revenue and absolute cost.

Okay. One final accounting clarification. I think earlier, we were talking about the annual escalation rate reflecting as part of the revenue growth. But my understanding is the revenue equalization standards would ensure that escalation should not be contributing to the -- at least on an annual revenue growth, right?

There are a lot of nuances in this in terms of the lease accounting. I would suggest we take this offline. We can take you through the working offline.

The next question is from the line of Saurabh Handa from Citigroup.

These are actually both follow-ups to previous questions. Firstly, just back on the question of your tower additions, which have averaged close to around 4,000 odd over the last 3 quarters. And one of your large customers has been adding 1,500, 2,000. So you said the difference could be partly because of new tower additions for other customers as well as some potential shown that happening. Would one of these two factors have a higher bearing than the other? Just trying to get a sense of which one could be a bigger contributor.

No, I would not put a number because it varies by quarter. At the end of the day, it's a net tenancy addition to invest, so it does impact the revenue positively. That is the main takeaway but the split is not a fixed number, as I said.

Okay. Where I was coming from is because obviously, there's a lot of this chatter about renewables [indiscernible] third customer and if that could be to churn for us. So the point I was trying to add is, is there a potential offsetting factor? Do these cancel each other? I mean, I know you've said that there are a lot of considerations if a tenant chooses to move out from one tower go to the other. But I was just trying to get some more [ clarity ] on that.

See if I was you, I would primarily look at the net additions of the tower portfolio tenancy. I think that's where the churn gets offset by relocation, it's not net tenancy addition, but it's not a net loss. However, if we get it powered from somebody else, where current operators operating with someone else and move to [indiscernible] that's a net addition to Indus. So I would look at the overall -- a net addition of towers and tenancies to invest to make your own trends.

And this is where you're saying that so far, the order book out pipeline is quite all right for the coming few quarters?

Yes.

Okay. And just my second question was on the energy margins now with the 50% increase in bulk diesel prices, how does that impact your energy cost? So is there a lead lag impact where maybe it hits you first and then you pass it on. If you can just provide some sort of color on this?

No, there is no lag. I think we will [indiscernible]. So as I mentioned -- I was explaining earlier, the same question was earlier that once the retail pricing, each retail pricing has an impact, it will impact both our revenue and cost on an equal basis. The net margin may have a slight impact towards negative side, but the major impact comes on the revenue and costs on an equal basis, right? So there is no lag. We bill as it actually happens.

But this actually did happen in March because bulk diesel prices were...

No. That was industrial diesel price. It was not the retail, which we buy retail diesel.

I was under the impression that our company [indiscernible]. That's not the case, is it?

No.

Ladies and gentlemen, we will take the last question for today, which is from the line of [indiscernible] from Nirmal Bang Securities Private limited.

Just to clarify on our renewals. Since your contracts are structured tower-wise or [indiscernible] with respect to [indiscernible] for the [ tower-wise ] contracts that have expired, have there been any non-annuals or side assets from [indiscernible]?

No. I think they are adding -- for all the customers, we always have a portfolio which are not renewed, and we work with them and they get renewed. Because yes, even for [indiscernible], there are certain tenancies that have expired which are still operating and some churn have happened, which we report. So I think it's not one or the other way. It's not that all the non-renewed have expired, [indiscernible] that's not the case. In fact, very minor percentages [indiscernible].

Okay. And so the contracts which we have renewals happened, so that I have the same commercial terms as early contracts. So no incremental discount or price concession we have given to them?

Yes, if the renewal doesn't happen, I think we continue operating the payment.

Thank you. At this moment, I would like to hand over the call to [indiscernible] to Mr. Prachur Sah for final remarks. Thank you, and over to you.

To conclude, FY '26 reflects consistent execution across our strategic priorities, with our core business continuing to demonstrate resilience and steady growth, supported by healthy colocation additions and sustained customer network expansion. Our plan to expand into Africa is a testament to our agile approach to growth, which will also be enabled by investments in digital and AI-led capabilities. Given our proven execution track record, focused on efficiency and long-term capital discipline, we remain confident in our ability to deliver sustainable growth and create long-term value for all our stakeholders. Thank you, and have a good day.

Thank you, members of the management. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the conference call. You may now disconnect your lines. Thank you for connecting to audio conference service from Chorus call and have a pleasant day. Thank you.