Quippo-WTTIL submits bids for Aircel's tower biz: MD

Quippo-WTTIL, the entity formed by the merger of city-based Quippo with Tata Teleservices' tower arm, has submitted bids for acquiring the tower business of mobile operator Aircel, a top company official said today.

Quippo MD Sunil Kanoria told PTI, "We have submitted the bids for Aircel's tower business. We expect the due diligence to start in few weeks."

Unlisted Aircel, which has about 11,000 towers is valued between $1.8 billion and $2 billion, according to sources.

Tata Teleservices MD Anil Sardana today said on the sidelines of a company's function that, "things are going slow (on the Aircel tower deal)".

Tata Teleservices, India's sixth-largest mobile operator, owns 51 per cent in Tata Quippo, the joint venture. Japan's NTT DoCoMo owns a 26 percent stake in Tata Teleservices.

Sources said Aircel had shortlisted American Tower, Bharti Infratel, Crown Castle and Tata-Quippo for due diligence.

They added that Malaysian telco Maxis Communications, which has a majority stake in Aircel, had appointed Standard Chartered, Nomura and Rothschild as investment bankers to sell a majority stake in its business unit with over 11,000-plus towers.