Professional Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Protelindo) and state-owned Telkom Indonesia held discussions with Indosat Ooredoo about acquiring its tower assets, Dealstreetasia reported.

Indosat, the third largest operator in Indonesia by subscribers, reportedly received interest from local as well as overseas buyers but hasn’t revealed its shortlist.

Protelindo is the second largest tower company in the country, where it owns and operates more than 8,400 towers.

Local media reported last month the operator plans to raise as much as $300 million to fund a sharp increase in capex by selling 3,000 towers.

The operator significantly increased its capex budget for 2019 to 2021 to IDR30 trillion ($2.2 billion), as it moves to expand 4G coverage and catch-up to rivals after years of under-investment. It announced plans in early August to almost double its 4G base station network to boost coverage from 81 per cent to 90 per cent of the population by the end of the year.