Indian Telecom Tower Industry: Consolidation Round the Corner

Website www.icra.in The Indian telecom industry has witnessed significant growth in subscriber base over the last decade, with increasing network coverage and a competition-induced decline in tariffs playing facilitators. The growth story and the potential have also served to attract newer players in the industry, with the result that the intensity of competition has kept increasing, forcing the telecom operators (telcos) to look for cost-cutting measures. One such measure has been the hive-off of telecom tower related operations into separate companies to allow for greater operating efficiencies and tower sharing. The attractiveness of the telecom tower industry, given the aggressive network rollout plans of the telcos, has led to the entry of several companies in the fray.