Introduction of GTL Infrastructure

GTL Infrastructure, established in 2004 and part of Global group, is the pioneer in Shared Telecom Infrastructure in India. GTL Infrastructure offers ready to use passive infrastructure to wireless telecom operators.

For over two decades, Global Group has been partnering with leading telecom operators and OEM's, offerring its expertise in wireless communication. From 2G networks to 3G and 4G, from WiMAX to IPTV, Global Group provides complete life-cycle solutions of network services. These services include network planning and design, network deployment, network operations and maintenance, application management and professional services.

The company is in the midst of rolling out a Pan India network of 6700 towers by 08, and is offering the infrastructure to the leading service providers in India. It is a publicly listed company (BSE: 532775 & NSE: GTL Infra), and has emerged as the largest independent tower company in India.

GTL Infra is registered with the Department of Telecommunications as an Infrastructure Provider in Category I (IP-I). The Company builds, owns, operates and maintains passive network infrastructure on a shared basis in order to cater to the rapidly growing infrastructure needs of cellular telecom operators.

Indian Telecom Industry

The telecom industry is one of the fastest growing industries in India. The NTP 1999 aimed at achieving a tele-density of 15% by 2010 but the same was achieved in September 2006, four years ahead of the schedule. The tele-density as on September 2007 is 21.85%.

The total number of wireless subscribers in the country - including GSM, CDMA and fixed mobile - has reached 209.08 million. The total subscriber number including both wireless and wireline has already crossed 250 mn and is expected to touch 500 mn by 2010 or probably much earlier to that. Of this the wireless segment will largely drive the growth.

With the rapid increase in the cellular base the service providers will be required to set up infrastructure to sustain growth and to offer services in new circles. With falling revenue the cellular companies are looking at means of cutting costs. An effective though not very popular means of cutting costs is infrastructure sharing. In India there are few players providing such services at a very small scale

The growing CAPEX/ownership cost and the high operating expenses incurred by each Telecom Operator on a site ownership basis individually, as also prohibitively large CAPEX presents an opportunity for infrastructure sharing in both these areas.

GIL is focusing on this opportunity and would practice the model of sharing infrastructure amongst various telecom operators.

Chart showing growth in Indian Cellular Infrastructure

Our Business Model

Our business model of infrastructure sharing is through building, owning, operating and maintaining the shared resources for multiple service providers. Under the Build- Own-Operate model we would be rolling out the entire passive infrastructure required in the needed territories and also operate and maintain the same based on the Service Level Agreements (SLAs) entered into with the operators.

We would own the passive assets, thus freeing up the operators capital. We plan to give the operators, a 'ready to move in' telecom equipment housing facility, in the form of base station sites and network management /monitoring facilities. The operator would pay a monthly/quarterly fee to us for utilizing the facility.

Although we are a new entity, we are backed by our strong expertise, experience, capital base and intimate understanding of the Indian market place. GIL is well placed to play a crucial role in implementing the concept of shared infrastructure in the Indian marketplace. We possess extensive skills in designing and implementing telecom networks. Our status as a preferred partner with leading OEM's, gives us an added advantage in securing stronger customer alliances, and in garnering leadership status.

GIL rolls out the entire passive infrastructure required in the needed territories and provisions it to multiple operators. GIL owns the passive assets and it does give the operators, a ‘ready to move in’ telecom equipment housing facility in the form of base station sites and network management/monitoring facilities. The operator pays a monthly/quarterly fee to GIL for utilising the facility.In essence, our orientation is towards providing a single window, one-stop-shop infrastructure provisioning services to telecom operators by undertaking the complete range of responsibilities including building and maintaining tower sites.

Salient Features

• Ownership of infrastructure by GIL
  
  
• Site Infrastructure provisioning charges payable by telecom operators on a monthly/quarterly basis

Advantages

• Capital investment risks are reduced for an operator, as infrastructure will be partly owned by GIL
  
  
• With less assets on the balance sheet, the operator's return on capital employed improves, in turn strengthening its image within the market
  
  
• With the presence of a neutral party, sites can be shared to a greater extent to bring in additional OPEX benefits to the operator

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