Indonesia's second largest mobile operator, XL Axiata plans to sell one-third (2,000-2,500) of its towers to refinance its debts, the company said in a statement published in the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) on Wednesday. The operator's debts are mainly incurred to finance ts acquisition of Axis Telekom Indonesia in 2014.
As part of its debt restructuring, XL Axiata has sold 3,500 towers to publicly listed tower company Solusi Tunas Pratama for Rp 5.6 trillion (US$401.63 million) in 2014.
Mohamed Adlan bin Ahmad Tajudin, XL Axiata finance director said, “The debts to be paid with proceeds from the auction are both loans maturing this year and those whose payment we want to precipitate." The company’s net foreign losses tripled from Rp 1.06 trillion in the first nine months of 2014 to Rp 3.03 trillion in the corresponding period last year.XL