BSNL to hive off tower infra into new firm in nine months: Telecom Minister

NEW DELHI: Indian Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said that the mobile tower infrastructure of state-run telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd’s (BSNL) will be hived off into a separate subsidiary in nine months.

"The establishment of a new subsidiary tower company and the transfer of all tower-related assets and liabilities of BSNL is targeted to be completed in nine months," Prasad informed to the Lok Sabha members.

On 6 August 2015, the Union Cabinet has approved a proposal to hive off state -owned telecom company BSNL’s tower business into a new company.

BSNL mobile tower assets consist of about 64,500 towers and more than 50,000 tower sites have optical fibre cable connectivity.

“The establishment of a separate company, for holding and managing the tower infrastructure assets of BSNL, will enable the new company to unlock the true potential of the tower business and leverage it for expansion of investment and spread of infrastructure,” he said..

The Minister also said that no such proposal is under consideration at present for Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL).

In case of BSNL, tower assets are included in the figures of 'Aerial and Masts', for which the net book value is Rs 2,206 crore and in case of MTNL, the tower assets are included in the figures of 'Apparatus and Plant', for which the net book value is Rs 2,825 crore as on March 31, 2015,” siad Prasad.