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number of companies have expressed their interest in bidding for XL Axiata'€™s telecommunications towers, as the adoption of 4G/LTE network has helped boost business growth in the industry.

XL Axiata, the country'€™s second-biggest operator, is releasing up to 2,500 towers through an open bidding process, which so far has generated huge interest.

Tower Bersama Infrastructure finance director Helmy Yusman Santoso, for instance, said the company was interested in making a bid for the towers.

However, he said he could not disclose whether or not his company had submitted a formal proposal to the provider, adding that he could not comment further on the bidding.

'€œWe have a confidentiality agreement with XL,'€ he explained.

Inti Bangun Sejahtera corporate secretary Merciana Anggani, on the other hand, said her company was '€œcurrently sizing up the offer.'€

XL Axiata finance director Mohamed Adlan bin Ahmad Tajudin, meanwhile, said his company had received a number of offers, both formal and informal.

'€œBut we cannot disclose how many offers have come in. We have confidentiality agreements with the [prospective] buyers, and it might be too early to reveal [the progress],'€ he said.

Adlan previously said his company was looking to release between 2,000 and 2,500 telecommunication towers from around 6,500 towers the company currently owned. The bidding started last week.

Adlan did not provide a precise sum that the company expected to raise from selling its towers, but he did refer to the firm'€™s previous tower auction. The company sold 3,500 towers to publicly listed tower company Solusi Tunas Pratama through a bidding process back in 2014.

XL Axiata generated Rp 5.6 trillion from that sale, meaning that each of the towers was sold for around Rp 1.6 billion. Taking a line from the previous transaction, XL Axiata might expect to pocket between Rp 3.2 trillion and Rp 4 trillion from selling its towers this time around.

The company has previously said in a statement that proceeds from the transaction would be used to pay down debts.

William Surya Wijaya from Asjaya Indosurya Securities said tower operators were expected to maintain an expansive stance despite the economic slowdown, and that without doubt XL'€™s towers would be well absorbed by the market.

William said tower companies could book double-digit growth this year thanks to telecommunication firms'€™ massive development of 4G networks, and purchasing existing towers to cater for rapidly rising demand was the best option to expand their business.

'€œThe biggest obstacles for these tower operators to expand are the economic slowdown and rising dollar debts, but I don'€™t think they can withhold the urge to add to their towers, with our enormous population, rising network demand and geographical challenges,'€ he said.

'€œAs for telecommunications providers, it is only a matter of time for them when they will release all of their towers. There is tight competition between providers, and to handle towers at the same time is like a business distraction for them,'€ he added.