Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group company Reliance Communications said on Wednesday it has bagged a 10-year deal valued at Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) from UAE-based Etisalat's Indian telecom arm to manage the latter's telecom infrastructure.
Under the long-term passive infrastructure sharing agreement, Etisalat DB, a joint venture between Etisalat and Dynamix Balwas Group and its subsidiary, would outsource their telecom infrastructure requirements for the 15 telecom circles, the company said in a statement.
This would encompass end-to-end tower and transmission infrastructure to Reliance Infratel Ltd and Reliance Communications, respectively. The deal would accelerate Etisalat DB Telecom's forthcoming roll-out of telecom services in India, the release added.
Etisalat chairman Mohammad Hassan Omran said, "As a new entrant in this dynamic market, this alliance provides us with key, strategic advantages that will ensure a robust, speed to market and cost-effective roll-out of services."
ADA Group chairman Anil Ambani said, "This win-win agreement demonstrates Reliance Communications capabilities to enable the operators to go-to-market with a bouquet of telecom infrastructure services. This will ensure a faster rollout, optimum costs and a time to market advantage."
This agreement presents large cost optimization benefits with improvement in capital productivity and enhances RCom group revenues by Rs 10,000 crore.
The agreement with Reliance Communications Group is the first and the largest telecom infrastructure sharing deal including towers and transmission agreement of its kind in the Indian Telecom landscape.
Etisalat DB and its subsidiary has Unified Services Access Licence in 15 circles including Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Mumbai, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu (including Chennai), Uttar Pradesh (East), Uttar Pradesh (West), Madhya Pradesh and Bihar.
These licences enable the company to provide a full spectrum of telecom services covering a population of over 900 million across these circles.
Under the licence the company can also provide Internet telephony, internet services and broadband services.