Shares in India''s leading mobile operator, Bharti Airtel, rose more than 9 percent on Monday morning after international investors agreed to buy up to 9 percent in its telecom tower business for $1 billion. The deal with the seven investors, including Temasek, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Macquarie valued the Bharti Infratel unit at up to $12.5 billion.India is the world''s fastest-growing mobile market, with about 8 million users signing up each month. There were about 226 million wireless subscribers at end-November, and the government has a target of 500 million telecom subscribers by 2010.
Future growth is seen coming from smaller towns and rural areas, where penetration is very low. This has led operators to share infrastructure such as towers to keep costs down amid intense price competition and a surge in low-income subscribers.Earlier this year, Bharti Airtel spun off its towers into Bharti Infratel, which owns about 20,000 towers.
Bharti Infratel also holds about 42 percent in Indus Towers, a joint-venture with Vodafone, which controls Vodafone Essar, and Idea Cellular that has about 70,000 towers.
Future growth is seen coming from smaller towns and rural areas, where penetration is very low. This has led operators to share infrastructure such as towers to keep costs down amid intense price competition and a surge in low-income subscribers.Earlier this year, Bharti Airtel spun off its towers into Bharti Infratel, which owns about 20,000 towers.
Bharti Infratel also holds about 42 percent in Indus Towers, a joint-venture with Vodafone, which controls Vodafone Essar, and Idea Cellular that has about 70,000 towers.
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