American Tower to buy XCEL Telecom

American Tower Corporation (ATC) today said it will acquire Indian telecom infrastructure firm XCEL Telecom for an undisclosed amount.

ATC's Mauritian subsidiary American Tower Mauritius has entered into an agreement with Horse-Shoe Capital, Mauritius, owner of XCEL Telecom, for acquiring the Indian tower company, a joint statement from ATC and XCEL said.

However, the companies did not reveal the financial details of the deal.

The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2009, subject to customary closing conditions and the completion of customary regulatory and other approvals, the statement added.

"India is one of the fastest growing telecom markets, with the tower market seeing record growth... This acquisition comes with a good team of people and is in line with our plans for the country.

"This deal will strengthen our base in India and give us access to a new set of clients and geographies where XCEL has established connections," ATC Executive Vice-President Amit Sharma said.

XCEL Telecom owns and operates about 1,700 wireless communications towers, besides a number of towers that are under construction.