The AP Towers Limited (APTL) is soon going to get a strategic partner in order to develop infrastructure of the communication tower in the state by the end of April or the beginning of May. The APTL has been formed under the state government’s plans to set up tower infrastructure in the state by giving government sites to the telecom infrastructure developer. The telecom infrastructure developer will install towers like ground based towers, roof top towers and smart towers which can enable Wi-fi in public places.
However, the government of Andhra Pradesh wants to leverage the existing vacant area in the government buildings, on roof top and other utility areas such as bus stands or substations. The APTL chairman, Ajay Jain has said that they are in the process of evaluating the bids which have been submitted in order to become a strategic partner in a joint venture with the APTL to develop the communication tower infrastructure. He also said that they have received two bids and are evaluating them and seeing if they are able to meet the requirements mentioned by the government.
An official from the APTL has told that they have identified around 10,000 to 12,000 sites which belong to the government and which can be offered to the joint venture partner for setting up the telecom infrastructure firm. He also said that APTL is acting as liaison between the government and the telecom infrastructure firms. The joint venture will share the revenue, based on the number of state government sites they are going to use for setting up the infrastructure.
According to the detailed project report prepared for the project, it has been estimated that Andhra Pradesh currently has 16,000 towers with 74% of the ground based towers and 26% of the roof top towers. The report also says that APTL is expecting a high growth in the future due to data explosion. The demand for telecom towers is most likely to grow due to the increased usage of the 4G network and the development of the state as a smart city.
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