Speed Post News Network
New Delhi : Union Cabinet chaired by PM Narendra Modi on September 12, 2017, gave its approval for hiving off mobile tower assets of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) into a separate company, fully owned by BSNL. This approval authorizes BSNL to monetize its telecom tower infrastructure with the formation of a separate subsidiary company.
There are around 4,42,000 mobile towers in the country of which more than 66,000 mobile tower belong to BSNL. An independent dedicated tower company of BSNL with a focused approach will lead to increasing of external tenancies and consequentially higher revenue for the new company, according to a PIB release.
The telecom tower industry has emerged as an independent business to harness the potential for sharing of infrastructure.The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) policy allows sharing of passive infrastructure i.e. the tower structure, Diesel Generator sets, battery units, power interface unit, air-conditioning, which has facilitated the growth of the telecom infrastructure industry.