The US firm is expected to receive $4.85 billion upfront in cash for the towers, but total proceeds could exceed $9 billion.
It is hoped that the deal will help AT&T to drive its European acquisition strategy. Bill Hogg, SVP of network planning and engineering for AT&T, said that it was a good move for the company and its shareholders.
“This deal will let us monetise our towers, while giving us the ability to add capacity as we need it,” he said.
“We’ll get additional financial flexibility to continue to invest in our business, maintain a strong balance sheet and return value to our shareholders.”
AT&T will reportedly sublease capacity on the towers from Crown Castle for at least 10 years – for an estimated $1,900 per month per site – and has the option to renew up to a total of 50 years.
Under terms of the agreement, Crown Castle will have exclusive rights to lease and operate the 9,100 AT&T towers, and will be able to sublease available space to other companies.
AT&T was considering the sale of its towers in September this year, but the company said that a sale would depend on their future use.
