Mumbai: New York-based private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts Wednesday said it is investing $250 million in Bharti Infratel, a subsidiary of leading telecom service provider Bharti Airtel in the towers business.

The investment will be made by KKR's Asia dedicated private equity fund and its global private equity fund, the company said in a filing with stock market authorities here.

Bharti Airtel said the investment will be in addition to the $1 billion invested in Bharti Infratel by Singapore's Temasek Holding, The Investment Corp of Dubai, Goldman Sachs, Macquarie, AIF Capital, Citigroup and India Equity Partners.

The enterprise valuation of Bharti Infratel will be in the range of $10-$12.5 billion with the final valuation to be determined on the basis of the company's actual operating performance in 2008-09.

Bharti Infratel currently owns over 20,000 sites. It also holds 42 percent stake in Indus Towers, and over 70,000 sites in the recently announced joint venture with Vodafone and Idea.

Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers will provide passive infrastructure services to all wireless telecom operators in India on a non-discriminatory basis, said the statement issued by the group.

A spokesperson for Bharti told IANS that the sharing of passive infrastructure will result in savings in capital and operating expenditures, and also ensure higher optimal utilisation of monetary resources for wireless operators.