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Tuesday, March 17, 2009

American Tower buys way into India wireless market

By Efrain Viscarolasaga

Boston-based communications infrastructure developer American Tower Corp. has agreed to acquire India-based tower developer Xcel Telecom Pvt. Ltd. through its subsidiary American Tower Mauritius, according to regulatory filings.

While filings did not disclose the value of the transaction, Indian newspaper The Economic Times pegged the deal at $136 million (7 billion rupees), citing sources close to the deal. American Tower (NYSE: AMT) reports the deal is expected to close in the second quarter.

Xcel owns and operates approximately 1,700 wireless communications tower sites, including a number of towers that are currently under construction. The acquisition gives American Tower a presence in the growing Indian wireless industry. Once combined, the merged company will boast about 2,000 towers in India, one of the fastest-growing mobile markets in the world, according to analysts. From 2007 to 2008, mobile subscribers in India went from 300 million to 347 million.

Founded in 1995, American Tower is one of the largest owners of broadcast and wireless communications towers in the country, with more than 22,800 sites in the United States, Mexico and Brazil. For fiscal 2008, the company reported a profit of $347.25 million on revenue of $1.59 billion. It employs 1,198 people worldwide as of December 31.



 

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