Two Bidders for Indonesian Tower Assets

Two investment firms, Saratoga Capital and Recapital are reported to be interested in buying the tower assets currently owned by Indonesian mobile operator Excelcomindo Pratama (XL). The company currently owns over 7,000 base stations, which it values at some US$550 million.

The two firms are said to be interested in setting up a joint consortium, Indonusa - and will follow the usual model of then subletting the towers to other telecoms operators. A separate report had suggested that Tower Bersama was also a member of the consortium.

XL is currently the third largest operator in the country, and according to figures from the Mobile World database, ended the first half of this year with just under 22.9 million subscribers, and a market share of 19.7%.

Posted to the site on 16th September 2008