Improving Connectivity and Delivering Value to Shareholders
Dear Shareholders,
The FY 2024-25 was Bharti Hexacom Limited's first year as a listed
company and it was marked by phenomenal performance on the stock market. Bharti Hexacom
has since delivered a return of 156% on the offer price. It has emerged as a preferred
telecom midcap stock with a market capitalisation of C72,870 crore on March 31, 2025,
nearly a two-fold increase from the time of listing. On the ground, your Company delivered
strong performance with sustained revenue market share improvement in both Rajasthan and
the North East.
In FY 2024-25, Bharti Hexacom further cemented its leadership in the
North East, and made significant gains in Rajasthan, achieving the highest ever revenue
market share of 57.9% and 43.1% respectively. This growth was underpinned by well-planned
investments, razor-sharp execution of a simple yet focused strategy, and sustained
operational excellence.
This has been a year when the Indian economy continued to maintain a
strong growth trajectory, as the fastest growing major economy in the world. The growth
was supported by improved domestic consumption, structural reforms and an increase in
government spending across key sectors including infrastructure, logistics and welfare
schemes.
In parallel, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, the sector
regulator, came up with forward looking regulations to make the telecom sector more
resilient. Rajasthan and the North East regions, where Bharti Hexacom operates, have
exhibited strong growth momentum, leading to higher than national average growth rates.
The Government of Rajasthan outlined a roadmap towards becoming a $350 billion economy by
2030. The North East, as a special focus area for the Government of India, is emerging as
a hub for digital transformation, and with the efforts of state governments, manufacturing
and industrial growth is expanding, together with bolstering of infrastructure,
connectivity and tourism.
To augment digital infrastructure even further, telecom operators,
including Bharti Hexacom, have invested heavily in 5G networks, which are expected to
revolutionise how individuals and industries operate. The true potential for monetisation
of 5G will be driven by emergence of large-scale use cases in the coming years across B2C
and B2B segments. Nevertheless, 5G is expanding the addressable market for home
connectivity through adoption of FWA. Given the low penetration of fixed line broadband in
Rajasthan and the North East, FWA is expected to amplify the adoption of high-speed home
internet.
Bharti Hexacom Limited is playing an integral role in the growth of the
digital economy in both Rajasthan and the North East telecom circles, with its continued
investments in building a future-ready and resilient digital network infrastructure. Under
its Rural Acceleration Program, in the last two years, your Company has expanded coverage
across 6,000+ villages, bringing to them the benefits of connectivity, digital commerce
and payments. To further boost its network coverage and capacity, Bharti Hexacom acquired
an additional 15 MHz spectrum in different bands in these circles, thus delivering a
superior experience to its customers.
During FY 2024-25, Bharti Hexacom added over 2 million 4G/5G customers,
with its total data customers now accounting for 77% of the total base. 5G adoption is
picking up, with millions of customers already enjoying our 5G Plus network. Your Company
has deepened Wi-Fi coverage with expansion across 200+ cities. Bharti Hexacom is part of
the Bharti Airtel group, an iconic leader in the telecom domain, and benefits greatly from
this association. Its obsession with improving customer experience, and in close
partnership with Airtel, your Company launched India's first AI-powered spam
detection tool for its customers.
This tool has identified 1.7 billion calls and 137 million SMS since
its launch, translating to an impressive rate of flagging 94 spam calls each second.
Bharti Hexacom's remarkable performance during the year was underpinned by its
consistent focus on winning with quality customers, delivering a brilliant experience and
driving operational excellence. Through this approach, your Company attained industry
leading revenue growth and strong operating leverage, resulting in further strengthening
the balance sheet.
To enhance capital efficiency, it pre-paid high-cost debt of C858 crore
arising from the spectrum auctions of June 2024, to the Government of India. We are well
capitalised to seize even more growth opportunities and momentum in the upcoming fiscal
year. Keeping in mind the sterling performance of the Company, the Board has recommended a
dividend payout of C10/- per share of face value of C5/- for the FY 2024-25, a two and a
half times increase over last year. We are committed to our vision of keeping customers at
the centre of everything we do. Bharti Hexacom is continuously working to further its
environmental commitments, reflected in initiatives like greening the network, optimising
diesel consumption, and improving site solarisation. Your Company takes pride in
integrating best practices across the organisation and maintaining the highest standards
of governance and transparency.
I sincerely thank our Board of Directors for their guidance and I am
pleased to welcome Mr. Rakesh Bharti Mittal and Mr. Kanwaljit Singh Cheema to the Board.
Further, the management team and our dedicated employees deserve recognition for their
immense contribution to the Company's performance. I would also like to express my
deep gratitude to our loyal customers, partners, suppliers, distributors and valued
shareholders for their resolute support and trust.