iBus Networks eyes market expansion, revenue growth with FireFly acquisition

telecom

iBus Networks expects its acquisition of WiFi infrastructure company FireFly Networks —a joint venture between Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea — to unlock new markets, attract new customers and enhance its capabilities.

Earlier this month, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea informed stock exchanges about selling their stakes in FireFly Networks, a 50-50 joint venture between the two telecom operators.

“Each acquisition leads to new customers, capabilities, or geographical opportunities. While we are yet to consummate the acquisition and are in the final stages of closing it, every acquisition represents an opportunity from these perspectives,”iBus Networks co-founder and CEO Ram Sellaratnam said in an interview to Moneycontrol.

The company raised Rs 280 crore from the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) in September and Rs 1,680 crore from India’s National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) in April.

Thirty percent of this funding will go towards new acquisitions to fuel growth and innovation, while the rest will go into business development.

“We recently raised Rs 280 crore and have allocated funds for inorganic growth. These funds are earmarked for acquisitions currently in the pipeline. In last seven years, the company has acquired seven companies. So, you don't only build a business but buy a business. Scale benefits in terms of financial metrics and network effect,” he added.

Backed by NIIF and IFC, iBus Networks, a telecom infrastructure company, aims to achieve Rs 2,000 crore revenue in the next four to five years with EBITDA of Rs 500 crore.

“Our hit rate is 60 percent CAGR on our revenue growth… that is the velocity we want to keep and this year also we will meet this kind of year-on-year growth. We are looking at EBITDA of around Rs 120 crore by FY26, with a revenue Rs 400-450 crore. For FY25, they have a guiding target of Rs 280-Rs 300 crore revenue,” the top executive said.

iBus, which offers mobility platforms to telcos, WiFi, and IoT platforms to enterprises, has hospitality and retail customers in six to seven countries and manages the network for them. Sellaratnam said the capital raise has helped the company to increase the “velocity” of growth in those markets.

About 90 million sq ft of real estate is coming up every year in India that has to be digitalised, which is double of what it was three to four years ago.

“The real estate is not ready take 5G signals or enterprise WiFi. So, there is the opportunity in coming years on which we have projected revenue growth,” he said. A part of the digitalisation opportunity will come from brownfield or existing buildings, including hospitals, hotels and government buildings, which must be equipped with WiFi solutions.

iBus has also developed a network solution using Massive Machine-Type Communications (mMTC) for large gatherings to track and trace people to avoid stampede situations, he said. It plans to take this solution to the market for upcoming significant gathering events.

“The ongoing Maha Kumbh got us to fast-track the development of this solution; while we are not ready yet fully but we got the hardware, software and network built-in in the product. We plan to do limited production trials with certain customers. Once it gets established, we want to solve mass-scale problems. It can be used to keep children and senior citizens safe,” he added.