ADVERTISEMENT

Tata Teleservices In Talks With ATC To Sell Stake In Tower Business

Tata Teleservices is in talks with American Tower Corporation to sell entire stake in mobile tower business for Rs 2,500 crore.

Mobile phone telecommunications towers stand in Mumbai, India. (Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)
Mobile phone telecommunications towers stand in Mumbai, India. (Photographer: Dhiraj Singh/Bloomberg)

Tata Teleservices Ltd. is in talks with American Tower Corporation to sell its entire stake in the mobile tower business for about Rs 2,500 crore.

“Tata Teleservices sold half of its stake to American Tower Corporation in October 2018. It is an option to sell the rest of the stake it holds along with Tata Sons in this fiscal. The process for sale has started for valuation of around Rs 2,500 crore at Rs 212 per share," a source, who did not wish to be identified, told PTI.

No immediate reply was received from American Tower Corporation and Tata Teleservices on an e-mail query sent to them.

Tata Teleservices sold half of its 26 percent stake and IDFC its entire stake in mobile tower company ATC Telecom Infrastructure Pvt Ltd. to majority shareholder American Tower Corporation for Rs 2,940 crore.

In October 2015, American Tower Corporation bought a 51 percent stake in Viom from Tata Teleservices and SREI Infrastructure Finance for Rs 7,635 crore. After acquiring the majority stake, American Tower Corporation named the firm as ATC Telecom Infrastructure.

ATC Telecom Infrastructure is the second-largest private telecom tower firm in India with a portfolio of around 78,000 mobile towers.

Tata Teleservices’ stake in Viom Networks came down to 26 percent after American Tower Corporation acquired a majority stake in the company and merged its existing India business and further reduced to 13 percent after stake sale in October 2018.

American Tower Corporation’s stake in ATC Telecom Infrastructure is likely to reach around 90 percent if Tata Teleservices exits the business after selling entire stake.