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Telco is carrying out internal assessment to see what value it could gain from towers spin-off and sale, CEO reported as saying.
Saudi Telecom Company is considering splitting off its telecoms towers into a separate entity that would enable it to move forward with a sale, it emerged on Tuesday.
The Saudi Arabian incumbent’s CEO told Bloomberg that his company is "seriously considering" creating a new entity to sell its towers portfolio.
"We are doing our internal assessment in terms of what value it will bring us," Khaled Biyari said in an interview with Bloomberg TV, the newswire reported.
"It’s not about the money. It’s about creating efficiency in operation," he added.
Saudi Arabia’s telecoms operators have been examining their options with regard to towers for some time.
Last year Saudi Telecom’s rival Mobily revealed that it was considering selling off its tower assets and earlier this year there were reports that Saudi Arabia’s three main mobile operators – Saudi Telecom, Mobily and Zain – were considering combining their tower assets into a separate company.
Nothing came of the joint venture plan, but in March Bloomberg quoted Mobily CEO Ahmad Farroukh as saying that he had received a number of indicative offers for the telco’s towers.
It noted that Mobily’s 10,000 mobile towers could command a price of up to US$2 billion.
In Tuesday’s report, it did not put a figure on Saudi Telecom’s towers portfolio.
