State-owned telecom giant, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), having more than 40000 towers across the country, is expecting revenue of Rs1000 crore through telecom infrastructure sharing business, a concept through which telecom companies are eying on reducing their costs to mitigate the impact of global slowdown.

The state-run firm is working towards sharing its passive and active infrastructure through a Master Sharing Agreement (MSA) under advanced stages of talks. The company will also hire Infrastructure Providers (IPs) to expand its mobile network in different states.

BSNL said, in a statement: "The master sharing agreement (MSA) for sharing of BSNL towers is in the final stages with some telecom operators and likely to be finalised very soon."

The telecom giant reported a net profit of Rs574.85 crores for the first quarter. However, implementation of the sixth pay commission; rise in costs; and decline in revenue from fixed lines service significantly eroded its profit margin. The telecom operator is also looking for foreign operators, besides increasing its income through new value- added services.

BSNL has recently launched third generation service (3G) in many parts of the country, providing easy and fast access to customers for fast data downloading and video call making and IP TV services.