Indonesian operator Telkomsel struck an agreement to sell more than 6,000 telecoms towers to domestic rival Mitratel, the third deal of a similar nature between the pair since 2020.

In a statement, Telkomsel noted it had now sold a total of 16,050 towers to Mitratel, following the sale of 6,050 sites in 2020 and 4,000 in 2021.

Telkomsel explained its push to divest its tower assets helps to grow and accelerate its transformation efforts, with an eye on developing more digital services.

Mitratel is a subsidiary of PT Telkom Indonesia: the deal will result in it managing more than 34,800 units across the country and helps aims to accelerate 5G in the nation, CEO Theodorus Hartoko commented.

As part of the tower sale, Mitratel said it would also deploy Telkomsel’s edge IoT and data analytics services to provide real-time management of the towers, as well as “proactive optimisation” of power consumption.

The partnership will have added benefits of reducing carbon emissions, demonstrating a commitment to environment, social and governance initiatives.

Finally, the pair also signed a Tower Construction Order Commitment, which will result in the creation of 1,000 additional sites over the next three years.