GTL Infra plans 50,000 towers in 3 yrs

GTL Infrastructure, which today agreed to buy the tower business of Aircel, plans to have a footprint of 50,000 towers over the next three years, company's Chairman Manoj Tirodkar said here today.

GTL Infra, part of the diversified Global Group, today agreed to buy the telecom mast assets of the Malaysian controlled domestic mobile operator Aircel for Rs 8,400 crore in an all cash deal, which is expected to herald consolidation in the country’s vast cellular tower sector.

The Chennai-based Aircel, a unit of the Malaysian Maxis Communications, has 17,500 towers. With this acquisition, GTL Infra will be one of the largest tower companies in the world.

Besides, GTL Infra, which already is the largest independent tower operator in the country, plans to erect 20,000 more towers of its own to enhance its scale and footprint.

"This deal with Aircel enhances our scale and presence, making us the largest independent telecom tower company in the world. We also have a future commitment to erect 20,000 towers here over the next three years," Tirodkar told reporters here after announcing the deal.

The company plans to fund this transaction through fresh equity worth Rs 3,400 crore, while the balance would be debt funded by a consortium of banks led by SBI Caps.

GTL Infra has structured the deal through a special purpose vehicle which will purchase the 17,500 existing towers of Aircel and its group subsidiaries.

After the fresh rollout of 20,000 towers, GTL Infra will have a footprint of 50,000 towers across the country.

GTL Infra plans to have a pan-India presence across all the 23 telecom circles, Tirodkar said. GTL already has 12,000 towers.

It had earlier announced plans to erect, engineer and manage one lakh cell sites across 150 networks, enabling mobile connectivity to over 100 million subscribers spanning 50 countries.

"We may invest Rs 700-800 crore more on the Aircel (tower) portfolio if and when needed by different telecom operator," Tirodkar said.

On completion of the transaction, GTL Infra would have deployed a capital of Rs 14,000 crore for developing passive telecom infrastructure in the world's fastest growing telecom market in the world, the company said in a media statement.

GTL Infra expects a recurring revenue base of Rs 1,800 crore with an EBITDA of over Rs 1,200 crore by FY11.

GTL offers its expertise in wireless communications from 2G networks to 3G and 4G, from WiMAX to IPTV. Its network will benefit new 2G operators and will also play a significant role to help 3G operators launch their services immediately.

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

With the acquisition, GTL Infra would reap more benefit as mobile operators lease out tower infrastructure instead of setting it up themselves to control costs.

There are nearly four lakh telecom masts in the country today.

GTL Infra scrips rose over 2 per cent on the news and closed the day with a 1.75 per cent gain at Rs 44.65 on the BSE.