Aircel to sell 17,000 towers by mid-February

Telecom service provider Aircel today said it will finalise a buyer for its 17,000 telecom towers across the country in the next six weeks.

Aircel, has about 38,000 towers out of which nearly 17,000 towers are owned by the company.

"We have not concluded the deal. We are in the final stages of discussions with three players and will finalise a buyer in the next four to six weeks," Aircel CEO Gurdip Singh told reporters.

Singh, however, declined to name the three players or details about valuations.

According to sources, Tata Quippo and GTL Infrastructure are among the two main players which are in the fray to buy the towers.

Asked whether the company will go public this year, Singh said, "We may think about it after finalising our tower deal. We have enough cash in our balance sheet right now."

Malaysia's Maxis Communications, which holds 74 per cent in Aircel has already come out with an IPO last year.

Mobile phone companies are leasing out infrastructure instead of setting it up themselves to control costs as it spares them the need to keep spending on capital expenditure.