Indonesia’s third-largest mobile operator PT Excelcomindo Pratama – better known as ‘XL’ – is reportedly close to selling 7,000 of its base stations to a private investment consortium. According to an Asia Pulse report, investment companies Saratoga Capital and Recapital have joined forces to bid for the business, which is valued at around US$550 million. A number of local and foreign banks have also reportedly offered to finance the acquisition. The report adds that, if successful with their bid, Saratoga and Recapital plan to set-up a new consortium called Indonusa to run the base stations business and outsource services to XL and others.

According to Wireless Intelligence data, Indonesia is the world’s sixth-largest mobile market by connections. The market-leader is Telkomsel with 52.4 million connections by end of second-quarter 2008. Indosat is second-placed with 32.4 million connections, while XL is third with 22.9 million.