Railtel Corp of India

RailTel Corporation of India Limited is one of the largest neutral telecom infrastructure providers in the country. A public sector enterprise under the Ministry of Railway, the company was founded in 2000. It is a 'Mini Ratna' (Category-I) public sector undertaking.

The company owns a pan-India optic fibre network and primarily looks after the telecommunication services for Indian Railways.

The market capitalisation of RailTel Corporation of India Limited stood at nearly ₹14,250 crore as of January 17, 2024. RailTel share price has gained nearly 250% in the last three years.

RailTel Corporation of India Limited business operations

RailTel's optic fibre network spans more than 61,000 route kilometres including 6,108 railway stations throughout India. Its nationwide coverage extends over 21,000 kilometres. It also has uninterrupted Right of Way (ROW) along 67,956 kilometres of railway tracks, spanning 7,325 stations nationwide. The company is further establishing Points of Presence at each railway station spaced at 8-10 kilometres.

RailTel is capable of catering to 70% of the country's population with its extensive coverage. The company also provides high-speed connectivity to approximately 758 institutes of higher learning including IITs, IIMs, IISC, SAC, agricultural and research institutes, and universities throughout the country.

The company has a nationwide telecom network with the capacity for service delivery ranging from 2Mbps to 800Gbps links. The RailTel Network uses various technologies including Next Generation Network (NGN), Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH), Packet Transport Network (PTN) and others. These technologies are maintained by round-the-clock network operation centres. The company has over 11,000 backbone and access points of presence (PoPs).

The company maintains a strategic partnership with Indian Railways. RailTel's customer base includes government organisations, ministries, educational institutions, corporations, banks and NBFCs.

RailTel engages in diverse projects including IP-based video surveillance systems at 5102 railway stations, 'e-Office' services and the implementation of both short-haul connectivity between railway stations and long-haul connectivity to support various organisations within the Indian Railways. RailTel also offers a range of passenger services including on-demand content services and Wi-Fi access at major railway stations across India. It has also executed the implementation of the Hospital Management Information System across 710 healthcare units including 129 hospitals and 581 polyclinics within the Indian Railways. This system enhances hospital administration and patient healthcare by providing accurate, electronically stored medical records.

RailTel's Wi-Fi services at railway stations are one of its flagship projects. RailTel's RailWire Wi-Fi is currently operational in 6,108 stations. This network is one of the world's largest and fastest public Wi-Fi systems, catering to nearly 2 million unique logins every day. The Wi-Fi service is free for the first 30 minutes of daily usage at a speed of 1 Mbps, following which a nominal fee is to be paid.

The company has executed various mission-mode projects for the Government of India including the National Knowledge Network, Bharat Net (formerly known as the National Optical Fibre Network). These projects also include the optical fibre-based connectivity project in North East India funded by the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF).

Financial Highlights

The company’s revenue from operations in FY23 increased to ₹1,963.51 crore, up 26.8% compared to ₹1,548.45 crore in FY22. Its profit after tax (PAT) for FY23 dropped to ₹189.07 crore compared to ₹208.94 crore in FY22. The company made a capital expenditure of ₹182 crore in FY23. The company's earnings per share (EPS) stood at ₹5.89 in FY23 compared to ₹6.51 in FY22.