AT&T is reportedly close to a deal to sell its wireless towers to Crown Castle, the US’ second largest towerco.
Last month the US operator confirmed it was exploring opportunities to monetise either some or all of its towers.
Crown Castle is near an…
AT&T is reportedly close to a deal to sell its wireless towers to Crown Castle, the US’ second largest towerco.
Last month the US operator confirmed it was exploring opportunities to monetise either some or all of its towers.
Crown Castle is near an agreement but terms are yet to be finalised and there are no guarantees a deal will go through, according to people familiar with the matter cited by Bloomberg.
It is suggested AT&T could put the proceeds of a disposal towards its network upgrades or M&A. The US incumbent has been exploring the possibility of entering the US market and consistently linked with a possible acquisition of Vodafone Group.
Speaking at the FT ETNO Summit 2013 yesterday, AT&T’s CEO Randall Stephenson described Europe as a “huge opportunity for somebody” and “incredibly exciting”.
The company feels the continent is trailing other developed countries and there is money to be made in the move towards LTE.
AT&T could raise US$5bn through a deal for its estimated 10,000 towers. America’s largest telco mandated JP Morgan and TAP Advisors to offload the assets, according to previous reports.
Last year TAP Advisors advised T-Mobile USA on a deal to sell the rights to its towers to Crown Castle. The towerco agreed to pay US$2.4bn to be able to lease and operate more than 7,000 of T-Mobile’s sites.
Earlier this month Crown Castle’s larger rival, American Tower, bought privately-held Global Tower Partners (GTP) for an enterprise value of US$4.8bn. The deal includes 5,400 towers, 800 property interests under third-party communications sites, management rights to over 9,000 sites – primarily rooftop assets – as well as 500 sites in Costa Rica.
