State-owned Indian operator BSNL selected a financial adviser to manage the sale of 10,000 towers, with the loss-making company aiming to raise as much as INR40 billion ($501.5 million), The Economic Times (ET) reported.

The newspaper stated KPMG will advise on the sale, which will only include towers with co-location arrangements with other operators.

BSNL operates 68,000 towers across India.

The three major mobile players in the country have each made moves to sell off towers in recent years as they see infrastructure sharing as a way to reduce costs and generate cash to pay debts.

Last week, ET reported Vodafone Group entered talks with a Canadian pension fund about selling its entire stake in Indian infrastructure company Indus Towers.

Bharti Airtel is currently the largest shareholder of the tower unit.

In late 2020, Reliance Industries completed a sale of tower assets of its mobile unit Reliance Jio to Brookfield Infrastructure Partners for INR252 billion.