ATC to buy Voda, Idea towers for Rs 7,850 cr: What this means for industry

Consolidation in sector will make the buyer second-biggest player

A subsidiary of American Tower Corporation (ATC) on Monday signed an agreement to buy 20,000 mobile towers owned by Vodafone India and Idea Cellular for $1.2 billion (Rs 7,850 crore at the current exchange rate), kicking off a phase of consolidation.

ATC Telecom Infrastructure, earlier known as Viom, will be paying Rs 39 lakh per tower. According to experts, this is quite an attractive price for the buyer. Canada-based Brookfield was in the race to buy Vodafone-Idea’s telecom assets, according to sources. 

The price per tower is similar to what ATC had paid two years ago when it bought a 51 per