BSNL shortlists six cos to hire towers

MUMBAI: State-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has shortlisted six companies���GTL, Quipo, Essar, XL Telecom, TVS and Aster Teleservices���to hire cell towers. This is the first time that the national telecom major has sought to take any infrastructure-based support from other telecom companies.

The six companies have been chosen from a long list of bidders that included the likes of Bharti, Reliance and Essar, who together have nearly 1 lakh towers across the country. BSNL has gone for independent tower companies rather than service providers.

The move comes at a time when the state-owned company was losing out to private service providers due to its decision of not leasing from third-party tower companies.

���At a time when telecom providers are increasingly depending on each other for their passive infrastructure needs, BSNL���s insistence on using its own infrastructure to cater to the ever expanding cellular base was creating competitive losses for the company. This shortlist is a sign that the PSU is now going with the industry trend,��� said a Mumbai-based analyst.

A senior company official said BSNL would now negotiate with each of these companies and offer the contract area-wise, depending on the price and availability of towers in the required area for BSNL.

���In areas where these companies do not have a tower, but BSNL has a requirement, the companies would be asked for quotations for building a tower and accordingly BSNL would ask them to erect towers in such areas and rent it to the state telecom major,��� the official told ET.

Earlier, BSNL had floated a tender seeking expression of interest from companies willing to offer their infrastructure on lease, following which there was a beeline of telecom companies offering their services to the telecom PSU. As per the bid document, BSNL wanted to get into a hiring agreement with the infrastructure providers for 15 years, that can be extended by five years.