Tuesday September 1, 09:50 AM

Rel Comm, Aircel close to tower deal - paper

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Reliance Communications (RCOM.NS : 166.6 -1.5), is close to a telecoms tower sharing deal with local peer Aircel that could fetch India's No. 2 mobile operator revenues of about $300 million over 10 years, newspapers reported on Tuesday.

The deal with unlisted Aircel is expected to be announced in about two days after the paperwork is completed, the Mint said, citing an unnamed industry official close to the development.

The Business Standard said the deal would include sharing of towers, voice carriage and bulk bandwidth.

When contacted, a spokeswoman for Aircel, majority owned by Malaysia's Maxis, denied the development.

"There is nothing new. We have been sharing towers with several operators for a long time," she said, adding the company was already sharing towers with mobile firms including Bharti Airtel (BHARTIARTL.BO : 283.65 +2.65) and Reliance Communications.

Reliance Communications could not be immediately reached for comment.

Last week, Reliance Communications and S Tel, partly owned by Bahrain Telecommunications, agreed to share infrastructure including mobile towers.

Etisalat's India telecoms joint venture has also entered into a 10-year, $2 billion tower-sharing agreement with Reliance Communications.