Tata Communications, which operates one of the largest submarine cable network on Tuesday posted a higher net loss of Rs 794.65 crore for the fiscal ended March, 2012 as compared to Rs 776.9 crore in the previous fiscal. The company however, hopes to maintain a good growth in FY 13.

For FY 2012, income from operations was Rs 14,196.05 crore against Rs 11,931.99 crore in the preceding fiscal.

During the fourth quarter ended March 2012, the company's consolidated net loss widened 67 percent year-on-year to Rs 261 crore on the back of higher losses incurred by its South African unit Neotel.

The consolidated results for the quarter and the year ended March 31, 2012 include those of Neotel, a company incorporated in South Africa. The consolidated loss for the year includes loss of Rs 737.47 crore (previous year's loss of Rs 551.02 crore) of Neotel, South Africa, it said.

The start-up business, primarily Neotel, showed revenues of Rs 1738.10 crore (USD 363 million) in FY2012 against Rs 611.5 crore (USD 134 million) in FY2011. The business has delivered a positive EBITDA on a standalone basis for the first time.

"Our growth has far outpaced the industry growth last year. We hope to maintain that growth in FY 13," Tata Communications managing director and CEO Vinod Kumar told reporters here.

"Our main focus was profitability and this is reflected in our core business which has registered a robust performance. The South African operation, Neotel, has also ended the year on an EBITDA positive note," Kumar said.

On stand-alone basis, the company posted 51.76 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 38.2 crore for the March quarter, as against Rs 25.17 crore in the same period last year.

Consolidated income from operations increased in the fourth quarter to Rs 3,961.28 crore from Rs 3,068.83 crore in the same quarter in the 2010-11.

The company launched several new products in the last quarter which have held us in good stead. In these uncertain times, we are well poised to partner with our clients for their communications and technology requirements as they look to diversify and grow business across different geographies, Kumar said.

"We are looking at South East Asia region to expand our global operations. Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar are markets with a lot of promise of growth. We intend to create our direct presence through partnership with local players," Kumar said.

Sanjay Baweja, CFO, said the company did not borrow last year and will focus on repaying debt going ahead.

Commenting on capex plans, Kumar said, presently capex is low-intensity and will be funded through internal accruals.

We are focusing on network expansion and new services and the capex is closely aligned to market opportunity. The company had spent 9 percent of gross revenues towards capex in FY 12.

Tata Communications has largest submarine cable networks, a Tier-1 IP network, with connectivity to more than 200 countries across 400 PoPs, and nearly 1 million square feet of data center and collocation space worldwide. The company has strategic investments in South Africa (Neotel), Sri Lanka (Tata Communications Lanka) and Nepal (United Telecom).