Tower business company edotco Bangladesh is all set to sell 30 percent stake to local business group Getco as part of efforts to be eligible to get a tower sharing licence.

The company is selling shares to comply with the tower sharing guideline, according to which the applicant of a tower sharing licence cannot keep a mobile operator as its shareholder and foreign ownership in the firm cannot exceed 70 percent. In edotco Bangladesh, Robi owns 19.99 percent stakes while the rest 80.01 percent belongs to edotco Group, a Malaysian telecom tower management company and a concern of Robi's parent company Axiata Group.

The tower business company will let go of all shares of Robi and 10.01 percent from the edotco Group, a top official of the company said.

A highly placed source said edotco is paying Robi around $120 million for the 19.99 percent shares and will pay Getco at the same rate.

On April 1, the telecom regulator sought applications from the competent entities by May 13 to award four tower sharing licences.

But Bangladesh Telecommu-nication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) had to extend the deadline by one more month, as none applied for the licence.

In a press statement released yesterday edotco Bangladesh welcomed Getco as its partner.

Through a subsidiary, Greencon Tower Company Ltd, Getco will partner with edotco Bangladesh to apply for the tower licence and to develop the telecom infrastructure.

“Our partnership with Getco is fundamental to enabling transformation within the telecommunication sector,” said Suresh Sidhu, CEO of edotco Group.

“As the country gears towards its 'Digital Bangladesh 2021' vision that aims to unlock digital transformation for millions of citizens, we hope to fuel these efforts by introducing pioneering solutions to accelerate connectivity and infrastructure innovation.”

“We are confident that our collaborative efforts with edotco will result in millions of citizens being able to reap the benefits of connectivity,” said KM Khaled, chairman of Getco Group.

Currently owning 8,300 telecom towers, edotco Bangladesh manages about 1,500 more of other operators while edotco Group has over 27,000 towers in six countries.