Bharti Airtel has approved the merger of Indus Tower Ltd with Bharti Infratel Ltd to create the largest tower company outside China.

In a stock exchange filing, Bharti Airtel said that the merger deal involves a ratio of 1,565 shares of Bharti Infratel for every one Indus Towers share. Indus Towers Ltd is valued at $10.8 billion (Rs 715 billion) in the deal.

The merged entity would control over one-third of the tower industry in India and a market share of over 35 percent. Its tenancy ratio would be close to 2.25 times which is more than the industry average of 2 times. Tenancy ratio is the number of tenants (operators) who have placed their antennae on the tower.

Both Bharati Infratel and Vodafone have a 42 percent ownership in Indus Towers at present. Idea Cellular group and US-based Providence own 11.15 percent and 4.85 percent of Indus Towers respectively.