New Delhi, Oct. 14: Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications (R-Com) is selling a 51 per cent stake in its tower assets to Canada's Brookfield Infrastructure Group for Rs 11,000 crore in a deal that will help to cut the mobile service provider's huge debt.

R-Com will use the proceeds of the deal "solely" to repay debt, the company said a statement.

"R-Com will receive an upfront cash payment of Rs 11,000 crore from the proposed transaction. R-Com will also enjoy 49 per cent future economic upside from the tower business, based on certain conditions," said the company.

The R-Com scrip rose 2.57 per cent to Rs 47.90 on the BSE after the announcement. Intra-day, it surged 3.64 per cent to Rs 48.40.

On the NSE, the shares rose 2.56 per cent to Rs 47.90. The company's market valuation advanced Rs 299.21 crore to Rs 11,922.21 crore.

R-Com is the most leveraged among listed domestic operators with its Rs 42,000-crore net debt being more than five times its operating profit.

Last month, Ambani had said the company aimed to cut its debt by more than three-quarters within a year.

R-Com, the country's fourth-biggest mobile carrier by customers, is also merging its wireless business with smaller rival Aircel, which will reduce its debt by Rs 14,000 crore as it will transfer part of the debt to the new venture.

R-Com further plans to monetise its real estate business to raise another Rs 5,000 crore, reducing the overall debt to Rs 12,000 crore.

"With the increasing proliferation of smartphones among the Indian masses, data will grow exponentially, requiring a significant number of additional data sites over the next few years. An amalgamation of coopetition and competition among operators and tower companies will be required to cater to this next phase of growth," Hemant Joshi, partner at Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP, told The Telegraph.

There are around 4,00,000 telecom towers in the country and are estimated to increase at a CAGR of 3 per cent over the next 4-5 years, according to a Deloitte report.

Announcing the signing of a "non-binding term sheet" with Brookfield Infrastructure Group for the proposed sale, an R-Com statement said the specified assets will be transferred from Reliance Infratel Ltd on a going concern basis into a separate special purpose vehicle to be owned by Brookfield.

R-Com will continue as an anchor tenant on the tower assets under a long-term MSA (master service agreement) for its integrated telecommunication business.

Analysts said R-Com's financials will improve in 2016-17 if it did not have to make major spends on spectrum or capex.