US telco and ISP Windstream (NASDAQ: WIN) reportedly aims to raise between US$500m and US$750m from the sale of its data storage business. The Little Rock, Arkansas-based company has hired RBC Capital Markets to advise it on the sale, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Possible suitors include private equity firms ABRY Partners and GI Partners, one source was cited saying. Windstream bought the business, now called Windstream Hosted Solutions, from ABRY in 2010 for US$310m. Bernstein Research analyst Paul de Sa said such a deal seems consistent with Windstream’s new management’s focus on network investments. He noted that it is also unclear whether it makes better financial sense for telcos to own data centres than focus on connectivity to them, adding that it is hard for carriers to compete with the likes of Amazon and Microsoft. RBC has declined to comment, while Windstream, ABRY and GI Partners were not immediately available. Windstream reported total revenues for Q2 2015 of US$1.4bn and long-term debt of US$5.69bn as of 30 June 2015. The company said it had cut its debt by US$3.2bn in Q2 as a result of the spinoff of select telecoms network assets into an independent, publically-traded REIT, CS&L. Windstream has retained a 19.9% stake in CS&L which will be used to retire additional debt over the coming months. Earlier this month, Windstream accepted US$174.9m from the FCC’s Connect America Fund to expand broadband services in 17 states.