Essar may sell tower unit to American Tower Company for over Rs 2,000 cr

Essar Group is close to selling its mobile tower business.
Though Essar officials aren’t talking yet, sources said the group could sell the unit — Essar Telecom Infrastructure Pvt Ltd — to the American Tower Company (ATC) for over Rs 2,000 crore.
Boston-headquartered ATC is publicly held and owns and operates over 23,000 sites in the US, Mexico and Brazil.
“We have been in discussion with ATC. But we cannot comment any further,” an Essar spokesperson said.

Sources, however, said an announcement is likely in the next few days.

Proceeds of the tower-unit sale may be used to fund the group’s bid for 3G (third generation) telecom services. Essar provides GSM (global system for mobile communications) services in the country in partnership with Vodafone, which had purchased Hutchison’s stake in the venture a few years ago.

The reserve price for pan-India 3G auction has been fixed at Rs 3,500 crore.

Telecom companies are not keen to operate their respective tower businesses and want to focus on their core business.
Recently, Aircel sold 17,500 transmission sites to GTL Infrastructure, the largest independent operator of mobile phone towers.

Tata Teleservices also sold a 49% stake in its telecoms tower arm to Quippo Telecom Infrastructure Ltd, an unlisted firm in which SREI Infrastructure and the Government of Singapore Investment Corp own stakes.

The Ruias-owned Essar Group is a conglomerate that straddles diverse sectors such as energy, steel, power, communications, ports and logistics.