Tata Teleservices flies on Quippo deal

Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) has zoomed after selling its tower business to Quippo Telecom Infrastructure and Wireless TT Info Services (Quippo-WTTIL) for Rs 1,318 crore. The Tata group company is quoting at Rs 24, stronger by Rs 1 or 4.4%, on the BSE.  A total of 9.06 lakh shares have been traded on the counter thus far as against the two-week average of 5.39 lakh shares.

This would take the overall portfolio of Quippo-WTTIL to over 38,000 towers, making it the largest independent tower company in India. GTL Infrastructure, which purchased Aircel’s tower business recently, has 32,500 towers. American Tower Company is the third largest, with 25,413 towers.

The deal, done at Rs 52 lakh per tower, is higher than some recent deals in the telecom tower space. GTL’s Rs 8,400-crore acquisition of Aircel valued each tower at Rs 48 lakh, while American Tower’s Rs 2,000-crore acquisition of Essar’s telecom towers valued every tower at Rs 45 lakh.