Shares of India's biggest telecom operator Bharti Airtel slumped on Tuesday as the company's massive investment plans have seen raised concerns over its financials.
After witnessing a 2.3% fall in the previous session, Bharti Airtel shares declined by another 3.3% to trade at Rs 323 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
Bharti Airtel had said on Monday that it would spend Rs 60,000 crore ($8.98 billion) to upgrade its mobile voice and data network over the next three years in the face of the impending launch of Reliance Jio which will intensify the competition in the telecom space.
Credit Suisse has cut its target price for Bharti Airtel shares to Rs 270 following the announcement of its Project Leap.
"We see this announcement as a consequence of rising competitive concerns, with Reliance Jio set to enter the sector, and continuation of the rising capex trend that started with aggressive spectrum auction participation over the last couple of years. The other symptoms of market share loss and margin compression could occur post launch by Reliance Jio," Credit Suisse said in a note, to moneycontrol.com.
The brokerage said the telecom operator's Project Leap could lead to 40% increase in the annual capex run-rate.
"Bharti may see renewed capex thrust as a continuation of heightened capex intensity by the incumbents, prompted by large-scale network rollout by Reliance Jio," said the brokerage.
It also warned that cash flow conditions could get even worse for telecom players if the government opts to carry out fresh spectrum auctions in 2016.
