Indian mobile operator Idea Cellular has denied it may soon sell some 9,000 telecom towers that are not part of Indus Towers, its tower JV with Bharti Infratel and Vodafone Essar.
Himanshu Kapania, MD of Idea, reportedly told local TV channel CNBC-TV18…
Indian mobile operator Idea Cellular has denied it may soon sell some 9,000 telecom towers that are not part of Indus Towers, its tower JV with Bharti Infratel and Vodafone Essar.
Himanshu Kapania, MD of Idea, reportedly told local TV channel CNBC-TV18 that the company is not looking to monetise its towers in the short term and that it has not been in talks with anybody about a potential deal. This contradicts previous comments reportedly made to Dow Jones.
In a statement to TelecomFinance, a spokesman confirmed that there is “no substance to the [reported] comments” and that “the statement was made more as a response to a hypothetical issue of being able to raise funds.”
Back in March, Kapania was quoted saying that the company was considering selling 7,500 towers in order to unlock some value.
The Times of India wrote at the time that the towers could fetch as much as US$1bn, with banking sources quoted saying that Idea would only sell its towers to an investor with no strategic interest in towers.
It was speculated that the money could be used to help repay parts of Idea’s debt, which stood at Rs91bn (US$2bn) as of 31 March 2011, and to expand its 3G services.
Idea reportedly spent Rs57.69bn (US$1.28bn) for its 3G licences last year.
In early 2011, the company started rolling out 3G services in three circles and plans to expand its services to 4000 towns by the end of financial year 2012.
