Idea Cellular said it was “not aware of” any move by Bharti Infratel, a unit of Bharti Airtel, to takeover telecom towers owned by Vodafone and Idea Cellular.
The Business Standard yesterday reported that the three companies were in talks over such a possibility.
The three companies have already pooled most of their telecom towers under a joint venture called Indus Communications. Some towers are operated individually by the companies too.
“We observe from the published article that it covers news about Bharti Infratel proposing to take over telecom towers of Vodafone and Idea Cellular, which we are not aware of,” said Pankaj Kapdeo, company secretary for Idea Cellular, in a letter to the BSE.
According to a report by Dev Chatterjee of Business Standard, Bharti Infratel is in advanced talks with Vodafone and Idea Cellular to buy out their telecom towers at a valuation of up to $1.6 billion (Rs 10,080 crore).
Quoting ‘banking sources,’ the report said Vodafone might sell 11,000-12,000 towers and Idea Cellular 9,000 to Bharti Infratel.