Reliance, Bharti, Aircel, Spice discuss cell-site sharing; OpEx and CapEx to decline.(Reliance Communications, Spice Telecom, Bharti Airtel)(Brief article)

Spice Telecom, Reliance Communications, Aircel, and Bharti Airtel are discussing sharing their cell sites in the future. Hutch-Essar, Reliance, and Idea Cellular already have such agreements. Presently, all Indian operators have about 35,000 sites throughout the nation and would increase to 100,000 by 2010. Amid all the operators planning for a pan-India rollout, cell site sharing would allow rolling out networks at a faster pace and also trim down CapEx and OpEx.

Reliance, which would be rolling out GSM services in 21 circles, will gain major benefits. Meanwhile, Idea has secured a Mumbai license and is planning for expansion. Bharti is also planning to expand in 5,200 census Indian cities. All these expansions would gain pace once cell site sharing comes into...

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