Australia-based Telstra renamed its infrastructure business after closing a deal to offload a major stake in the unit to pay down debt and return cash to shareholders.

Telstra rebranded InfraCo as Amplitel, explaining in a statement the new name is a hybrid of the words amplify and Telstra.

InfraCo CEO Brendon Riley said the move delivers on promises made in a Telstra transformation plan to provide greater transparency of its infrastructure assets and improve the efficiency of how it manages the business.

The renamed unit has more than 8,000 tower assets. In late June, Telstra agreed to sell 49 per cent of InfraCo to an Australian consortium for AUD2.8 billion ($2 billion) and entered a deal to access existing and new towers for 15 years.

With the deal complete, Telstra is left with a 51 per cent stake in Amplitel and continued ownership of the active parts of the network, including the RAN and existing spectrum.

Earlier this month, Telstra detailed plans to return up to AUD1.4 billion from the sale to shareholders in fiscal 2022 (the year to end-June 2022) through an on-market share buy-back.