)
Gurdeep Singh, president and CEO of of Reliance Communications’ wireless business, talks about the new towers deal.
How would the deal help Reliance Communications?
There are many benefits. Our tenancy ratio, which is at 1.8, would rise to 2.8. This would reduce our cost of operations substantially. Also, apart from rentals, Reliance Jio would also pay for fuel and power. The income would help us reduce our interest costs substantially. A large part of our interest payments on our debt would be securitised. We expect our earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation margins to rise. It would also improve the valuation of our tower business.
Does the deal involve all your towers?
We have about 50,000 towers. But for some, there is no scope for an additional tenant. So, the deal is for 45,000 towers, pan-India. Earlier, many had speculated it would be for only a few towers.
Do you want to set up more towers together?
The future plan isn’t in place. With this signing, there is certainty about what we are doing. We had first carried out the inter-city fibre optic deal and now, the tower deal. The next deal under negotiations is for intra-city fibre.
