America Movil, under regulatory pressure to loosen its grip in the Mexican telecoms market, announced a proposal to spin off its tower mast business into a separate and listed company.

Under the scheme put forward by the operator, the new company – dubbed Telesites – would have the same shareholder structure as America Movil when listed. Subject to regulatory approval, Telesites shares would then be traded on the Mexican stock exchange. There would be public offering of stock, said America Movil.

The proposal, said Reuters, also sees the transfer of around MXN21 billion ($1.39 billion) of America Movil debt onto Telesites’ books.

America Movil’s shareholders will get a chance to vote on the corporate restructuring at a meeting on 17 April.

America Movil said in July last year that it would take steps to sell some of the assets it owns in response to pressure from Mexico’s Federal Institute of Telecommunications (IFT).

The IFT wants to reduce the company’s dominance in both the mobile (Telcel) and fixed markets (Telmex) and has proposed tougher rules to curb its dominance.

America Movil, according to Reuters, said the spin-off would allow its competitors to have access to about 90 per cent of its towers, up from around 45 per cent currently.