STL also plans to continue to invest about three per cent of its annual revenue in research on areas of optical solutions and wireless solutions including 5G
Sterlite Technologies (STL) has plans to expand its optical fibre manufacturing capabilities from 33 to 42 million fibre kilometres. The company is looking to invest Rs 200 crore to expand this manufacturing.
“The last year paved the way for a decade of network creation. STL has worked towards capacity and capability enhancements through strategic investments in manufacturing, research and global talent. Our sustained investments along with deep customer engagement will definitely drive the next phase of growth that will propel us towards the annual revenue run rate of INR 10,000 Cr by the end of FY’23,” said Dr Anand Agarwal, Group CEO, STL, during an investor meet.
The company is also planning to open new facilities in UK and the US. The capacity enhancements, as per the company, will enable the extensive fibre build-outs planned across US, Europe and UK to boost rural broadband and 5G programs.
” Full Fibre will be absolutely critical to the UK. Our Full Fibre network holds the potential for enabling significant socio-economic growth for the United Kingdom. Partners like STL will help us build this network in a fast and efficient manner. Their compact and efficient designs will be extremely useful for us as we look to build the most comprehensive and green networks in the world,” said Kevin Murphy, MD for Fibre and Network Delivery at Openreach.
STL also plans to continue to invest about three per cent of its annual revenue in research on areas of optical solutions and wireless solutions including 5G. It is to be noted here that the company has recently received its first 5G patent in the US. It also has ongoing product trials at customer premises in U.S. and APAC.
The company had a 55 per cent year-on-year increase in consolidated net profit for the quarter ended March 2021 (Rs 124.4 crore). STL’s net profit stood at about Rs 80 crore in Q4 FY20 while its revenue figures were Rs 1,475 crore for the March quarter. This indicates a 27per cent year-on-year growth.
STL had announced new deals and extensions of current engagement with leading telcos in the Middle East and Africa region (MEA) in March 2021. These deals, worth more than $100 million, take STL’s order book to a record high of Rs 11,300 Crores.
