Bharti Infratel surges as Bharti, RIL inks pact to share telecom infra

The stock has rallied 17% in past one week compared to 2% rise in S&P BSE Sensex.

Bharti Infratel has surged 7% to Rs 190 on the BSE after Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio Infocomm announced a comprehensive telecom infrastructure sharing arrangement under which they will share infrastructure created by both parties. Reliance Jio Infocomm is a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL).

Bharti Infratel, a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, is one of the largest tower infrastructure providers in India with 35,376 towers in 11 telecom circles across India. Bharti Infratel has 42% equity interest in Indus Towers. Indus Towers has 112,144 towers in 15 telecom Circles across India.

Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio will utilise each other’s intra and inter-city optic fibre networks and submarine cable networks, towers and internet broadband services, Bharti Infratel said in a BSE filing.

The arrangement could, in future, be extended to Roaming on 2G, 3G and 4G, and any other mutually benefiting areas relating to telecommunication, including but not limited to jointly laying optic fibre or other forms of infrastructure services, it added.

Meanwhile, Bharti Infratel stock has outperformed the market in past one week, surging 17% compared to 2% rise in benchmark S&P BSE Sensex.

Bharti Airtel, on the other hands, was up 1% at Rs 338 on the BSE.