Tatas to divest up to 49 pc stake in telecom tower firm

Hiving off tower business into an independent unit and selling a stake has become a business model for the telecom companies, reports Archana Khatri.

Tata Teleservices (TTL) is planning to divest up to 49% stake in its hundred per cent subsidiary tower infrastructure company Wireless TT Infoservices limited(WTTIL)

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Anil Sardana, the Managing Director of TTL told Hindustan Times: “The process of divestment is in advanced stage, we have appointed the investment banker and have received a huge response from more than 30 players”. He also confirmed that the stake sale is expected to be completed in six months.

WTTIL will have around 10,000 towers by March 2010.

Hiving off tower business into an independent unit and selling a stake has become a business model for the telecom companies. Reliance Communications had sold 5 per cent stake in its tower company in July this year for Rs 1,400 crore, and is looking at unlocking up to 36 per cent. Last week, Airtel, Idea and Vodafone Essar also announced their joint tower company and expect to unlock value in future through an IPO.

Tata Telecom expects to get a green signal from the Department of Telecommunications for its GSM foray, which will focus on the third generation technology. With the launch of GSM services, the company plans to shift voice-based services to GSM and data-based services for retail and enterprise customers to CDMA technology. CDMA requires lesser bandwidth for efficient data transfer compared to any GSM network.