Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone Essar who are GSM operators in India have collaborated to set up an independent tower company with Indus Towers.
The companies which have collaborated aim to share passive infrastructure with all telecom providers so that users will have to pay a low cost.
The passive infrastructure will be shared in 16 circles in a tower company in which Bharti and Vodafone will have 42 per cent stake while remaining 16 per cent would be Idea Cellular’s.
The independently managed and operated companies for the Indus Towers will have around 70,000 sites.
Other than the telecom companies they would also share their infrastructure with other wireless service providers like broadband and broadcasters.
The Indus Towers will push mobile operators towards providing network coverage in the broader rural areas of India. Bharti Airtel has agreed to transfer its 30,000 existing towers in 16 telecom circles to the new entity.
Bharti Infratel will operate the passive infrastructure in seven circles in India and it will also run independently. Thus, it shall offer passive infrastructure services to all telecom and wireless service providers on a non-discriminatory basis. The above mentioned companies will own around 20,000 sites initially.
The joint statement also said the above mentioned companies would continue to run their active infrastructure independently, but at the same time they would be able to enjoy the capital expenditure and operative expenditure savings, enhanced operational efficiency and quicker expansion of coverage.
This service will help consumers benefit through improved network quality and broader coverage especially in rural areas.