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Reports suggest that holding firm Telxius is in talks to purchase the infrastructure
According to Spanish newspaper Expansion, Telefonica, via its subsidiary O2 Deutschland, is in talks to sell 10,000 of its German mobile towers to Telxius for an enormous €1.5 billion.
The deal was first speculated about back in September last year, when Telefonica reported that it was looking to sell off some of its passive infrastructure and was considering Telxius as a buyer.
Infrastructure company Telxius was created back in 2016 and is reportedly majority owned by Telefonica (50.01%), alongside partners KKR, a private equity fund, and Pontegadea, an investment fund. Telefonica had already sold towers to the company before, offloading 2,000 back in 2016 for just under €600.
However, the acquisition of 10,000 towers would be a big step for Telxius, almost increasing its total towers owned by 50%.
This news would be in keeping with the five-point plan that Telefonica announced in November last year, part of which was the creation of Telefonic Infra, a new unit to centralise the company’s mobile infrastructure.
As part of the deal, O2 Deutschland will reportedly be able to lease the towers from Telxius, with some reports suggesting that the company will also be obligated to build additional towers for O2 to rent.
None of the involved parties have seemingly commented on this news at this time. The deal, if it does indeed exist, will be expected to be finalised in a few weeks time, according to reports.
The sale of tower infrastructure has become something of a theme in recent months. In the UK, Cellnex has just secured permission to purchase Arqiva’s cell sites for £2 billion, having purchased 2,000 Portuguese towers from operator NOS just weeks ago.
Also in the news:
Vodafone switches on Dutch 5G using spectrum sharing
Deutsche Telekom’s vision of 5G Germany in 2020
US–China tensions flare as FCC threatens to revoke Chinese telco licences
