Mumbai India's GTL Infrastructure yesterday said it would take over the tower assets of Malayasian-controlled Indian mobile phone operator Aircel in a deal that is expected to herald consolidation in the country's vast cellular tower sector.
GTL Infrastructure, India's largest independent tower operator, will pay Rs84 billionn (Dh6.8 billion) for 17,500 towers with rights to roll out 20,000 more for Aircel, a unit of Malaysia's Maxxis Communications.
"This transaction is likely to result in significant revenue opportunity for the company in the range of Rs85 billion to Rs170 billion over next 5 years," GTL said in a Bombay Stock Exchange announcement.
The deal comes as India's mobile operators are increasingly in need of cash to fund a fierce price war and to bid in a forthcoming government auction of spectrum for third generation cellular networks.
The country has a vast network of 400,000 mobile towers, which operators are expected to use in the coming months to raise capital, either through outright sales, such as Wednesday's Aircel deal, or through initial public offerings.
Bharti Airtel, the country's number one operator, Vodafone Essar, the industry number three, and smaller rival Idea have a joint venture, Indus, that has 90,000 towers while Reliance Communications has its own company with 50,000 towers.
Both are expected to hold initial public offerings in the near future.
— Financial Times
