GTL Infra to invest $1.7 bn for tower rollout

Passive telecom infrastructure firm GTL Infrastructure (GIL) will invest $1.7 billion (around Rs 6,800 crore) for setting up 25,000-shared telecom towers in the country. The company has also raised $300 million through a foreign currency convertible bond (FCCB) issue, which was subscribed over 4.41 times.

GIL has also been sanctioned a $700 million debt from leading domestic and international banks, while it had raised $85 million (Rs 340 crore) through a rights issue $250 million (Rs 1,055 crore) through issuance of warrants to the promoter group.

According to the FCCB prospectus, at present GIL has around 3,500 towers in the country and was looking at increasing the total number of towers to around 25,000 in the next three years.

The company will use the $300 million FCCB proceeds and $700 million debt that would be sanctioned from leading domestic and international banks, apart from funds from promoters for the rollout plans.

GIL would offer the towers on a shared basis to the telecom operators. At present, the company is providing shared infrastructure services to five national level and one regional level telecom operators. It has also signed long-term contracts of 10-15 years with these companies.

Meanwhile, in a statement to the BSE, the company said that the FCCB was lead managed by Citibank and Standard Chartered Bank.

"A total of 93 global investors participated with confirmed orders in of $1.102 billion, resulting in subscription of 4.41 times. This also shows the confidence of foreign institutional investors in an Indian company executing a greenfield infrastructure project," it said.

Earlier, it raised $85 million (Rs 340 crore) through a rights issue that opened on August 16, 2007 and closed on September 14, 2007. The company's board had also approved issuance of 26.37 crore warrants on a preferential basis to its promoter group, Industrial Development Finance Company (IDFC) & Technology Infrastructure.

This was expected to bring in additional funds of $250 million (Rs 1,055 crore). At present, the company operates in 12 circles and is planning to extend into 8 more circles.