According to Spanish business newspaper Expansión, the sale comes in line with what has been occurring with its peers like Telefónica owned Telxius and Yoigo that sold a good part of its towers to Cellnex and Vodafone confirmed that it was launching a new tower company called TowerCo, due to go live in April 2020.
For its part, Orange Spain will divest approximately 1,500 sites comprises largely of mobile towers in rural areas or radioelectric sites on building rooftops in cities valued at around $250 million. This in turn forms part of the larger roadmap for Orange Group, details on which are due to be announced 4 December after a meeting with its investors.
The sales process is reportedly in the mature stage of development with contact having already been made with Digital Bridge, Axion, Phoenix, American Tower and Cellnex, according to unnamed sources it is American Tower and Cellnex who are more likely to agree a deal.
Should American Tower close the deal it would mark the company’s first entry into the Spanish market. At present, of its 170,000 global towers largely in the US and Latam, the company also has assets in Germany and France. As for Cellnex, the company already has approximately 8,800 location across Spain, and will only strengthen its foothold.
In total, Orange Spain has identified close to 5,600 sites that could be monetised, meaning that the company could see the sale of a further 4,000+ sites in the future.
In related news, last month Orange Spain acquired the Spanish business unit of SUMA Mobile, SUMA Móvil Spain, from Alantra Private Equity-backed Grupo Ingenium. The deal strengthens the company’s wholesale offering in the country, becoming a provider of convergent services - mobile telephony and fibre for small and medium-sized businesses.
