Bharti Airtel jumped 5% to Rs 770. The stock hit a high of Rs 773, which is a life high for the scrip. As many as 3.6 lakh shares changed hands in the counter on BSE.
Reliance Communications (RCL) was up 4% to Rs 493. The stock hit a high of Rs 495.40 which is also a life high for the scrip. As many as 18.7 lakh shares changed hands in the counter on BSE.
Both these scrips have been on a roll. Bharti has surged from its recent low of Rs 613.10 on 10 January 2007. RCL bounced back from its low of Rs 407.25 on 10 January 2007.
Bharti has already overtaken software major, Infosys, to become the third largest company in India in terms of market-cap. Its current market-cap is Rs 145595.90 crore. Reliance Communications (RCL) is the seventh largest company in terms of market-cap ( Rs 99204.96 crore).
Subscriptions for mobile services are growing at a fast clip in India. The telecom industry grew 4.5% sequentially, with wireless net addition of 6.4 million in December 2006, taking the overall wireless subscriber base to 14.9 crore. The growth was driven by highest ever net adds by Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications and Hutch.
Both Bharti and RCL reported robust Q3 December 2006 results. Bharti Airtel’s consolidated net profit as per US GAAP, jumped 122.8% to Rs 1215.13 crore (Rs 545.30 crore), beating market expectations. Consolidated revenue rose 62.3% to Rs 4913 crore (Rs 3025.60 crore).
RCL’s consolidated net profit jumped 198 % in Q3 December 2006 quarter to Rs 924.42 crore, on 26% growth in consolidated revenue to Rs 3755.30 crore.
Both the companies are separating their wireless towers business into separate companies.
