PAT muted by high interest rate & forex: Tulip Telecom

Tulip Telecom has reported a standalone net profit at Rs 89.33 crore against the Rs 79.44 crore posted in the previous quarter. Sales rose up 7.5% to Rs 702.90 crore on a quarter-on-quarter basis. CNBC-TV18 talks to Hardeep Singh Bedi, chairman and managing director of Tulip Telecom to figure how the company has actually performed.

Below is the edited transcript of the interview. Also watch the accompanying video. Q: Could you tell us what you have done in your revenues, operating margins and net profits for the quarter?
A: For the half year, we have a total revenue of about Rs 1356 crore which is a growth of about 22% over last year. EBITDA is up by about 27%. The EBIT is at Rs 289 crore, up around 28% while operating is at about Rs 222 crore, up about 18.5%. Our profit after tax is Rs 165 crore which is up about 16.3%. Q: Could you tell us for Q2 what the numbers will stand at?
A: The Q2 numbers are: total income of Rs 702 crore, up 20%; EBITDA at Rs 203 crore, up 24.4% and profit after tax is Rs 87 crore which is up 11.6%. Q: This quarter might be fine, do you expect this run rate to continue, and also, in the data centers, if you can outline for us what is the progress and what are you expecting for the full year?
A: Firstly, business continues as normal. However, there has been pressure on profit after tax primarily because of the higher interest rates and to some extent, due to the foreign exchange fluctuations. The data center is coming up very well. We expect to be able to launch it within this quarter.
Incidentally, the first order that we had got from a very large corporate has already been handed over, and therefore, fully operational. So the data center is well on the way.
Tulip is moving to become an enterprise data services provider, moving away just from being a bandwidth provider. As a result, since 70 to 80% of the Fortune 500 companies are already our customers, we are primarily targeting at increasing our wallet share from them. Q: Could you tell us what the interest cost has been this quarter and what the debt stands at of September 30, and any plans of reducing your debt?
A: I would not be able to give you the number immediately, my CFO might probably have it. Our debt equity ratio is at about 1.6 which is a little high. We are at an advance stage, looking at funding for our data center company, and we expect that to come through shortly. Q: I am sure you heard about the news flow in Qualcomm what is your view on it and what are the plans for the BWA rollout?
A: I expect the rollout to happen sometime next year, this is my personal opinion. But then, Tulip is just a minority partner. Qualcomm is the company that will be able to shed better light on it. But I am glad that the issue of licenses was resolved. Unnecessary money would have got stuck. Basic point is that Qualcomm has the licenses for Delhi and Bombay, and maximum business users are in this area, and unnecessarily, the business users would have suffered. Good that this is behind us. Q: Could you tell us what is the kind of revenue that you expect in FY 13 from this JV with Qualcomm?
A: I am sorry, I don