Bharti, Idea and Vodafone Essar come together to form a tower company

GSM mobile operators Vodafone, Bharti and Idea Cellular will jointly set up an independent tower company, Indus Towers, to share passive infrastructure with all telecom players to enable lower cost and a more competitive operating environment .

Bharti and Vodafone will own 42 per cent stake each in the tower company, with Idea will hold the balance 16 per cent. Indus Towers will be an independently managed and operated company.

The mobile phone companies will merge their existing assets, and the new infrastructure company will have 70,000 sites, which will be shared in 16 circles. In addition to telecom companies, service providers such as broadcasters and broadband service providers would also share the infrastructure, Vodafone said in a statement.

"Indus Towers will enable optimisation of future tower rollout and enhanced operational efficiency leading to operational expenses and capital expenses savings for its customers," it said in the statement.

Source: domain - b

L&T forms JV with Saudi company

Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Limited has entered into a joint venture (JV) with AA Turki Contracting & Trading Corporation (ATCO), a leading conglomerate in Saudi Arabia, for construction in the hydrocarbon and power sectors. The new venture would be known as Larsen & Toubro ATCO (Saudia) LLC, and would be registered as a local company in Saudi Arabia. Financial details were not disclosed.

Read more in The Economic Times.