Tata tower firm valuation likely at Rs 25,000cr

Wireless-TT plans to offload 26-49% stake.

The valuation of Wireless-TT Infoservices (WTTIL), a Tata group telecom tower infrastructure firm which was spun off into a separate company, is expected to be around Rs 20,000-25,000 crore.

The company is planning to divest 26-49 per cent stake to a clutch of global and domestic investors.

On Saturday, Tata Teleservices Managing Director Anil Sardana had told reporters that the valuation of the tower business subsidiary would be on par with its competitors.

"This valuation is based on a rough estimate, taking into account WTTIL's 13,500 towers and other factors. An average GSM telecom tower is valued at Rs 1 crore, while a CDMA tower fetches Rs 1.25 crore. WTTIL's towers have a tenancy rate of around 1.9, which further increases the company's valuation," an analyst, who did not want to be named, said. 
 

STANDING TALL
Companies	Total no of towers
Indus Towers	70,000
Reliance Infratel	36,849
GTL	4,400
Essar Telecom	2,000
Quipo	1,800
Bharti Infratel*	20,000
BPL	1,100
*(After hiving off to Indus)

"This will result in the company getting a higher valuation than its peers," he added.

Pan-India operator Tata Teleservices owns 10,000 towers and the rest is with Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra), the service provider in the Maharashtra and Mumbai circles.

Reliance Infratel, the tower company of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, is valued at Rs 60,000 crore based on the company's $6.7 billion equity value (announced earlier) and the 36,849 towers it owns.

With its 42,000 towers, Bharti Infratel is valued at Rs 50,000 crore and independent tower company GTL Infrastructure (GIL) is valued at Rs 8,000 crore for its 4,400 towers.

In December 2007, the BK Modi-controlled Spice Communications had sold its entire portfolio of 875 telecom towers to independent player Quipo Telecom Infrastructure for Rs 600 crore.