Date:09/12/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/12/09/stories/2007120954011500.htm

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Three GSM operators form tower company

Staff Reporter

Will provide passive infrastructure services to all operators

Will merge infrastructure in 16 circles
Indus Towers will have 70,000 cell sites

NEW DELHI: In a strategic move, three leading GSM operators — Bharti Airtel, Vodafone-Essar and Idea Cellular — have decided to form an independent tower company — Indus Towers Limited — that will provide passive infrastructure services to all operators leading to lower operating costs and more competitive operative environment.

The three companies will merge their existing passive infrastructure assets in 16 telecom circles in India. Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar will have 42 per cent stake each, while Idea will have the remaining 16 per cent stake in Indus Towers, said a joint statement issued by the three mobile operators here on Saturday.

The move comes after Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar signed an infrastructure sharing agreement in February this year.

As an independently managed and operated company, Indus Towers will have 70,000 cell sites in 16 circles — Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Kolkata, Maharashtra, Mumbai, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Chennai, West Bengal, and Uttar Pradesh (East and West).

The new company will also undertake a significant rollout of telecom infrastructure to propel the mobile sector towards achieving India’s tele-density and rural coverage goals in the next few years.

Inviting all operators to be its customer, the three GSM operators have said that the formation of Indus Towers would also enable telecom operators to reduce their operating costs through economies of scale, while consumers will be the ultimate beneficiary of this initiative through improved network quality and broader coverage, especially in rural areas.

The three GSM operators will continue to run their active infrastructure independently.