NEW DELHI, INDIA: Indian state-run telecom Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) said on Tuesday it will lease bandwith and telecom towers to Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd, the Indian mobile unit of Russian oil-to-telecoms group Sistema.

The Sistema unit currently operates in seven of India's 22 telecom zones and aims to extend its coverage to the remaining zones by end 2010.

BSNL said in a statement the firms have signed an agreement to share infrastructure, but did not disclose financial details.

BSNL had earlier signed similar tower-sharing pacts with mobile operators Aircel, Tata Teleservices and Datacom.

Telecom infrastructure leasing is gaining traction in India as it helps smaller mobile operators that are looking to expand their network coverage save costs.