Diversified Group GTL today said it will acquire 17,500 telecom towers of mobile service provider Aircel Ltd for a total consideration of Rs 8,400 crore.

GTL's group company GTL Infrastructure's board of directors at their meeting held today approved the purchase of tower assets from Aircel and its group subsidiaries through special purpose vehicle (SPV), GTL said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

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Aircel has committed an additional 20,000 tower sites to GTL Infrastructure over next three years, it added.

The transaction is likely to result in a significantly higher revenue opportunity for GTL Infrastructure in the range of Rs 8,500-17,000 crore over the next five years.

Of the total equity funding of Rs 3,400 crore for the buyout, GTL Infrastructure would contribute up to Rs 1,750 crore, while GTL would invest Rs 1,500 crore in the SPV.

The deal would be subjected to necessary regulatory approvals.

GTL offers its expertise in wireless communications from 2G networks to 3G and 4G, from WiMAX to IPTV.

It has a network of over 23,700 towers and with this acquisition, it is slated to be one of the largest telecom infrastructure providers in the country.

The company had earlier said it was planning to erect, engineer and manage one lakh cell sites across 150 networks, enabling mobile connectivity to over 100 million subscribers in 50 countries.

The Global Group has seven operating companies, including two listed entities — GTL and GTL Infrastructure.

Aircel has about 38,000 towers, of which nearly 17,000 are owned by the company. Malaysia's Maxis Communications holds 74 per cent stake in the Chennai-based Aircel.

With the acquisition, GTL Infrastructure would reap more benefit as mobile operators are leasing out tower infrastructure instead of setting them up themselves to control costs.

Shares of GTL Infrastructure were trading at Rs 43.20 on BSE, up 0.70 per cent and shares of GTL were trading at Rs 402, down 0.26 per cent from its previous close.

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