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ndependent tower company PT Solusi Tunas Pratama (SUPR) is aiming to see an over 70 percent increase in total revenues next year following the acquisition of around 3,500 telecommunication towers from cellular operator PT XL Axiata.

'€œWe will close our deal with XL next week, so we will start seeing a revenue boost [from the deal] next year,'€ said SUPR finance director Juliawati Gunawan on Friday.

Juliawati estimated that her firm'€™s business could grow by over 70 percent upon the completion of the deal, which gives SUPR more towers and tenants.

In the first half of this year, Solusi Tunas posted Rp 511 billion in total revenue, an increase of 36.05 percent from Rp 375.58 billion in the same period last year.

In October, SUPR and XL signed a deal under which SUPR will purchase 3,500 of XL'€™s towers for Rp 5.6 trillion (U$450.7 million). With the acquisition, SUPR will have no fewer than 7,500 towers next year, an increase of about 80 percent from 4,187 towers at present.

Juliawati stated that her firm would finance the deal with XL using part of its bridge loan facilities.

The tower company obtained on Dec. 8 a total of US$790 million bridge loan facilities from BNP Paribas, HSBC, ING Bank NV, JPMorgan Chase Bank and Standard Chartered Bank.

Of the total loan facilities, $140 million will mature in six months and the remaining $650 million will mature in four and a half years.

In a further development, SUPR got the green light on Friday from its shareholders to enact a rights issue, which would enable the company to raise Rp 2.4 trillion to pay part of its loans.

'€œWe'€™ve already got a green light from shareholders and we'€™ve obtained permission from the Financial Services Authority (OJK) to carry out a rights issue in January next year,'€ Juliawati said.

Of the funds raised from a rights issue, 71.4 percent would be used to refinance SUPR'€™s $140 million-bridge loan, 19.3 percent to pay loans from shareholders and the remaining 9.3 percent would be for working capital, she explained.

SUPR president director Nobel Tanihaha said that his firm was also exploring the possibility of raising funds from the bond market to pay the $650 million-loans.

'€œThis option is, however, subject to shareholders'€™ approval and it will very much depend on the market conditions,'€ he said.

Despite the gloomy outlook, the country'€™s telecommunications tower industry is forecast to grow exponentially, in line with expected dramatic surges in data usage.

Juliawati said that SUPR planned to spend between Rp 800 billion and Rp 1 trillion for its capital expenditure (capex) next year, mainly to add more towers and to extend its terms of land lease.

The company will also expand its fiber optic networks in anticipation of growing demand for 4G, which requires optical fibers to work optimally.