Bharti Hexacom owned by Bharti Airtel holds its deal to sell 3,400 towers ₹The Indian Tower Tower has Rs 11,340 crore after intervention by state-owned telecom consultant India Ltd., which holds a 15% stake in the company.
TCIL asked the company to start a new process to meet public sector requirements, Bharti Hexacom said in a communication paper late Wednesday.
“However, Bharti Hexacom’s management and board of directors still believe in the business logic and advantages of the proposal. However, based on the highest standards of corporate governance and transparency, it has agreed to put the current proposal on hold for the time being and have a brand new exercise with TCIL,” the company said in its application documents.
Shiju PV, a senior partner of Indialaw LLP, said: “PSU must exercise caution when selling its assets…it must follow appropriate procedures involving valuation, invitation quotes and approval of the same sale of assets in the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management. This may be the reason TCIL is involved in the transaction.”
According to Shiju, failure to follow such procedures could lead to allegations and future investigations.
However, analysts say Hexacom does not want to sell its tower assets through the bidding process, as India Tower is also a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, and the Airtel-owned company may express their interest in buying the tower.
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Bharti Airtel and Bharti Hexacom reached an agreement with the Indian Tower in February to transfer 16,100 telecom towers through sluggish sales. Bharti Airtel to sell about 12,700 towers ₹21.746 million, and Bharti Hexacom will sell 3,400 towers ₹113.41 million. The Indian Tower has completed its Tower sales agreement with Bharti Airtel.
Indus Tower informed the exchange that the sales/transfer of the passive infrastructure business of Balticzko to the company’s business has been put on hold.
As of December 2024, the Indian Towers’ portfolio consists of 234,643 towers and 386,819 common locations. The company competes with Brookfield-owned Altius, which has more than 257,000 towers.
Founded in 1978, TCIL is an engineering and consulting company designed to provide Indian telecommunications and information technology expertise. Its advantages lie in switching, transmission, cellular services, rural telecommunications, fiber optic backbone networks, IT and network solutions.
In 1995, the government partnered with Mobile Telecom Corporation (Kuwait) and Shyam Telecom Ltd to create a joint venture called Hexacom India, aiming to provide mobile services in Rajasthan and the northeast. After Airtel acquired a majority stake, the company was renamed Bharti Hexacom in 2004.
