The Indian telecom sector is currently passing through a difficult phase. The industry’s debt stands at a whopping Rs 4.6 trillion, and profits are going south. Hyper-competition, substantial investment commitments for spectrum acquisition and 4G roll-out, high taxes and other levies, coupled with the entry of Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL) have taken a toll on the financial health of the industry.

This is evident from the disappointing year-end results reported by most of the telecom operators for 2016-17. Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications (RCOM) and Idea Cellular have reported a fall in net profits as compared to 2015-16. Losses for Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited (TTML) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) have widened between 2015-16 and 2016-17.

Further, operators’ dwindling profitability has had an adverse impact on their vendors too. For instance, Himachal Futuristic Commu­nications Limited (HFCL), Aksh Optifibre and Birla Ericsson Optical have reported a yearly decline in net profits during this period.

That said, companies like Tata Communications, Sterlite Technologies, ITI Limited and Finolex Cables have bucked the trend of declining profitability and reported an increase in profits. Also, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, GTL Limited and GTL Infrastructure have managed to narrow their losses in 2016-17 as compared to the preceding year.

In terms of quarterly performance, the results have been equally disappointing for most companies. Bharti Airtel, RCOM, Idea Cellular, HFCL, Aksh Optifibre, Birla Ericsson Optical, TTML, MTNL, Tata Communications, ITI Limited and Finolex Cables have reported a decline in their net profits during the quarter ended March 2017. Sterlite Technologies is the only company that reported an increase in its net profit during the quarter under consideration.

The following is a review of the financial performance of select telecom companies for 2016-17. This list is not exhaustive, as sev­eral private telecom companies are not listed and data is not available for international players whose Indian subsidiaries are not listed…