Rural focus to drive telecom industry's tower business, says CRISIL

Addition of towers across rural India will also limit the decline in revenues, according to a report by rating agency CRISIL

As consolidation in the telecom industry is expected to impact tower rentals, continuous expansion in the rural areas will moderate revenue losses, rating agency CRISIL has said.

In a recent report, CRISIL highlighted that majority of the new tower addition in the industry will be in the rural areas having lower rentals compared to the urban rental per tower. Rural expansion, too, is low. This structural change in the tower mix will pull down the rent revenues per tower, the agency said.

At the same time, addition of towers across rural India will also limit the decline in revenues. Thus, CRISIL Research