Indonesian towerco Solusi Tunas Pratama (STP) is considering acquiring towers in the country in order to boost its revenues.
President director Nobel Tanihaha was quoted telling reporters in Jakarta on 16 May that his company may take over existing…
Indonesian towerco Solusi Tunas Pratama (STP) is considering acquiring towers in the country in order to boost its revenues.
President director Nobel Tanihaha was quoted telling reporters in Jakarta on 16 May that his company may take over existing towers but added there is no decision on a deal value yet. As a reference guide, Tanihaha said that, in the past, the company spent between Rp700m (US$71.7m) and Rp1.2bn (US$122.9m) on such assets.
STP also plans to build between 800 and 1,000 towers, mainly in urban areas, this year to reach its 50% growth target, Tanihaha said. Each tower costs approximately US$120,000 to build.
The company currently operates approximately 3,000 sites across the country. Its main customers include mobile operators Bakrie Telecom, XL Axiata and Hutchison Telecommunications.
In early January, Solusi Tunas acquired 300 towers from Hutchison for an undisclosed value. Shortly after, it was suggested that STP might be among the potential candidates to merge its tower assets with that of Indonesian incumbent Telkom.
To fund its projects, Carlyle-backed STP secured a five-year US$309m loan in late March from DBS Bank and Standard Chartered. The facility was split between a US$258m term loan, a US$25.8m revolving loan and a Rp250bn (US$25.6m) revolver.
Indonesian tower companies have seen a flurry of M&A activity recently. Besides the Hutchison/STP deal and other rumoured transactions, it was reported last year that Axis Telekom, a towerco subsidiary of Saudi Telecom Company (STC), was looking to sell 1,600 towers for US$300m.
Indonesia is home to many independent towercos, which have in recent years sought to monetise their tower assets, either via sales or IPOs.
