Indonesia's XL Axiata has officially announced plans to sell a number of its 8,000 telecom towers, in a bid to pay down debt accrued by the acquisition of Axis Telekom.
The company has officially invited bids for a tower sale, The Jakarta Postreported. XL Axiata declined to provide details such as a price target or the number of towers that are up for sale.
XL Axiata first announced that it was considering selling off some of its towers to repay debt in February, after shareholders approved the operator's $865 million acquisition of rival Axis Telecom.
XL Axiata's parent company Axiata Group floated the operator a $500 million loan, and the rest was raised via borrowing from banks.
Even prior to the acquisition, XL Axiata had been considering selling its tower assets for years. In 2011, the company announced plans to sell 7,000 towers for around $1.55 billion, but the sale stalled due to lack of interest.
The acquisition has made XL Axiata Indonesia's second-largest mobile operator with around 68.5 million subscribers.