Reliance Signs Indian Tower Contract with Greenfield Network Operator

­Indian telecoms tower operator, Reliance Infratel has signed a network infrastructure management contract with new-entrant, S Tel. The agreement with Infratel, a subsidiary of Reliance Communications, is for six circles - Orissa, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, North East, Assam and J&K and covers telecom towers, transmission for BTS sites and fibre backbone for intercity connectivity

S Tel, a new telecom operator in the lndian marketplace, is a joint venture between Sterling Infotech Group (SIG) and Bahrain's Batelco. SIG holds a majority stake of 57.3% in the equity capital of S Tel while Batelco owns the rest. Batelco's investment in the company was announced in January this year and valued at around US$225 million - although that was for a 49% stake.

S Tel has acquired licenses and spectrum to operate in six Indian circles, and plans to launch its mobile telephony services before close of year. The scope of the agreement signed with Reliance Infratel will give S Tel access to Reliance Infratel's wide network coverage of over 10,000 sites across these six circles and the optic cable fibre backbone of Reliance Communications pan-India telecom network.

Elaborating on the agreement, Mr. Inder Bajaj, President, Reliance Infratel said, "We are pleased to partner with S Tel through this win-win landmark agreement. This agreement reiterates Reliance Communications capabilities to enable the operators to go-to-market with a bouquet of telecom infrastructure services. This will ensure a faster rollout, optimum costs and a time to market advantage."

Reliance Infratel, a subsidiary of Reliance Communications, is a passive infrastructure company offering plug-n-play facilities to provide mobile services across over 24,000 towns and over 600,000 Indian villages.

Posted to the site on 28th August 2009