BSNL Seeks $207 Million from Renting Out Tower Assets

India's Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) says that it expects to earn at least Rs. 1,000 crore (US$207 million) in the first year of opening its network up for infrastructure sharing. However, some of the income will be offset by higher costs as the operator seeks to rent capacity on towers belonging to other operators as it expands its network in rural areas.

"BSNL is aggressively working towards sharing its passive and active infrastructure with the existing and new telecom operators. With an asset base of more than 40,000 towers across the country, BSNL hopes to generate Rs 1,000 crore of revenue within a year from the infrastructure sharing business," the network opetator said in a statement.

The company expects that the Master Sharing Agreement (MSA) will be signed with several other operators shortly.

BSNL's network comprises of around 4,000 towers.

Posted to the site on 3rd August 2009