Indosat Ooredoo, Indonesia’s third-largest mobile operator, plans to raise as much as $300 million to fund a a sharp increase in capex by selling 3,000 towers, DealStreetAsia reported.

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 selected JP Morgan as adviser for the sale and has already been contacted by potential local and overseas buyers, DealStreetAsia said.

In February 2012, the operator sold 2,500 towers to Tower Bersama Infrastructure for $519 million and then leased back capacity from the company, which is one of two major independent tower operators in Indonesia.

Indosat Ooredoo was hit hard by a government SIM registration push started in May 2018, with its mobile connections dropping from nearly 110 million in Q4 2017 to 57.5 million in the last quarter of 2018, data from GSMA Intelligence showed. Its market share dropped from 23 per cent to 18 per cent over that period.

Its revenue in 2018 fell 23 per cent year-on-year to IDR23.1 trillion, due mainly to a 26 per cent decline in its mobile business.