Russian infrastructure group New Towers has registered an interest to acquire network towers and masts from Russian operator Mobile TeleSystems (MTS).
Ivan Tavrin, head of Kismet Capital the majority owner of New Towers, confirmed to local newspaper Izvestia the company is interested in buying MTS assets but did not provide any details on negotiations.
MTS told the newspaper that it is currently negotiating with all interested companies and intends to spin-off towers into a separate entity this Spring, reported CommsUpdate.
MTS has around 23,000 towers and is tipped to be valued at around RUB80 billion ($1 billion) to RUB100 billion. The operator also owns Service-Telecom which acquired Veon subsidiary National Tower Company which has around 15,400 towers.
New Towers is majority-owned by Kismet Capital (65%), MegaFon (25%), tower firm Vertical (10%). All three companies have a combined footprint of 30,000 antennas and masts.
