Cabinet approves hiving off BSNL’s mobile tower biz

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 12

The Union Cabinet today approved hiving off mobile tower assets of BSNL into a separate company to be fully owned by the state-owned company itself.

This approval authorises BSNL to monetise its telecom tower infrastructure with the formation of a separate subsidiary company.

Briefing the media after the Cabinet meeting, Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha said the process of hiving off the tower assets into a separate company would be completed over a period of two years.

He said that a number of BSNL employees would not only be sent on deputation to the new company but a number of new jobs would also be created through this new venture.

There are around 4,42,000 mobile towers in the country out of which more than 66,000 mobile tower are of BSNL, which comes to about 15% of the total towers in the country.

Monetising assets 

• The separate company will be fully owned by BSNL
• This approval authorises BSNL to monetise its telecom tower infrastructure with the formation of a separate subsidiary
• The process of hiving off the tower assets into a separate company would be completed over a period of two years