Russian operators Rostelecom, MTS and Vimpelcom are considering spinning off their mobile towers to an infrastructure management joint venture, reports Vedomosti citing a person close to Rostelecom. Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) was invited to participate in establishing a new company. Around 700 towers would be tranferred to the newly-established company by the operators in exchange for a 15 percent stake. RDIF would buy 85 percent. The remaining 14,800 towers would be purchased by the joint venture for over USD 1 billion. The joint network would enable the operators to reduce the number of mobile towers to around 11,000. The new company could be listed on the stock market within 3-4 years. Spokesmen for Vimpelcom and MTS confirmed a tower spin-off was under consideration but did not provide further details.
