Tower M&As riding on data growth prospects

Telcos need to continuously invest in data networks to improve tenancy for tower firms

There has been a flurry of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in telecom in the recent past. Vodafone and Idea are in talks to merge while small operators such as Telenor are looking at an exit. Severe pricing pressure brought on by the launch of Reliance Jio’s services is forcing telecom companies to consolidate.

All this will impact the telecom tower business, which has seen its fair share of M&As. While Reliance Infratel sold its tower portfolio to global alternative asset manager Brookfield at an enterprise value of Rs 21,500 crore, American Tower Corporation acquired Viom Networks for about Rs