This follows the infrastructure sharing agreement signed between Bharti and Vodafone in February 2007. These 3 companies will merge their existing telecom towers in 16 telecom circles in India. Bharti and Vodafone Essar will own approximately 42 per cent each and Idea will own the remaining 16 per cent stake in Indus Towers.

Setting up of new towers in the 16 circles will be undertaken by Indus Towers. The primary benefit from this deal will be the accelerated expansion of coverage, especially into rural areas and helping to meet the Government’s teledensity targets.

Independent firm

While these operators will continue to run their active infrastructure completely independent, they will be able to enjoy large savings in capital expenditure, enhancing operational efficiency and quicker expansion of coverage, said the joint statement.

Indus Towers will be an independently managed and operated company, offering services to all telecom operators and other wireless services providers.  “The company will have approximately 70,000 towers at inception, and will undertake a significant roll out of telecom infrastructure to propel the mobile sector towards achieving India’s teledensity and rural coverage goals,” it added.