Indonesia’s XL Axiata is the latest operator understood to be selling off its tower business in a bid to trim costs, reports Reuters.

Company director Dian Siswarini told reporters yesterday that the firm aims to sell as many as 8,500 of its transmission towers as it shifts focus to data services, and has appointed Goldman Sachs as an advisor on the sale. "There are three local companies who have shown interest," Siswarini said.

The company owns about 10,000 towers which have been leased to other providers while it waits for bidders, he added.

According to Reuters, it is not the first time XL has tried to sell-off its towers business. The firm planned to sell about 7,000 towers in 2008 but potential buyers backed off amid the global economic slowdown and liquidity squeeze. At that time, the towers were valued at between IDR5.7 trillion and IDR7.3 trillion (approx. US$700 million).

Rival Indonesian operator PT Indosat has previously said it is looking to sell up to 14,000 transmission towers.

XL’s Siswarini said that the firm has earmarked capital expenditure of US$1 billion for next year, 60 percent of which will be to develop XL's data services. In its latest quarter, XL reported a 5 percent increase in net income to IDR2.2 trillion (US$259 million) from total revenues of IDR14 trillion (US$1.58 billion), an 8 percent increase. The company said much of the revenue increase was down to a 50 percent rise in revenue from data services.