Tata Tele to divest up to 49% stake in tower arm

Tata Teleservices plans to divest up to 49 per cent stake in its tower arm, Managing Director Anil Sardana said. The company holds 100 per cent in the tower arm.

"We have got 30-40 bids from investors. We have appointed merchant bankers to shortlist them," Sardana said.

According to earlier reports, the company had appointed Lehman Brothers and Citibank to evaluate bids for buying stake in its telecom tower infrastructure business.

Tata Sons is the holding arm of Tata group companies.

The group operates mobile services through two companies "� the listed Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd and unlisted Tata Teleservices Ltd.

Tata Teleservices Maharashtra offers services in the Maharashtra and Mumbai circles, while Tata Teleservices operates in 18 circles.

There are 23 telecom circles across the country.

Sardana said the company intends to be a serious player in both global system for mobile communications and code division multiple access technologies.

Tata Teleservices currently offers only CDMA-based services and has applied for additional CDMA spectrum as well as start-up GSM spectrum.