Mobile operator T-Mobile USA has hired TAP Advisors in an attempt to sell its telecom towers, according to a Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the matter. Owned by Deutsche Telekom (DT), T-Mobile could reportedly fetch US$3bn from the…
Mobile operator T-Mobile USA has hired TAP Advisors in an attempt to sell its telecom towers, according to a Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the matter.
Owned by Deutsche Telekom (DT), T-Mobile could reportedly fetch US$3bn from the tower disposal to finance spectrum purchases and network expansion.
T-Mobile, the fourth-largest US operator, has been struggling in a market dominated by Verizon and AT&T.
In early 2011, TelecomFinance confirmed that DT was already evaluating a possible sell-off of T-Mobile’s towers on a sale-and-leaseback basis.
At the time, a spokesman had said that most US network operators no longer own their towers, so this strategy had already been proven.
The tower sale was put on hold shortly after when the company agreed to a US$39bn offer for T-Mobile from AT&T. But the deal collapsed at the end of last year.
A DT spokesman declined to comment today on renewed speculation about a potential tower deal, only stating that both Rene Obermann, CEO of Deutsche Telekom, and Neville Ray, CTO of T-Mobile USA, have said in the past that selling the towers could be one out of many options for T-Mobile USA.
Citing an analyst, the Bloomberg report suggests that US tower operators American Tower, Crown Castle International, and SBA Communications could be potential buyers.