Telefonica began tapping potential investors to assess a sale of subsea cable assets held by its Telxius subsidiary for around €2 billion, Expansion reported, as the company continues to restructure its business.

The submarine cables potentially on the block make-up the smaller segment of infrastructure company Telxius, alongside its growing tower asset portfolio. According to the subsidiary’s website it operates an international network of 100,000 km of high capacity fibre optic submarine cabling.

During the company’s Q3 results call, held last month, Telefonica COO Angel Vila noted several Telefonica divisions had negotiated new five year contracts with Telxius for use of the submarine cables at reduced fixed prices, though for an extended term.

The move, Vila added, “gives full visibility and growth ahead for the Telxius submarine cable for mid- and long-term. And this visibility in long-term will allow Telxius to contemplate all possible strategic alternatives for this subsea cable unit”.

As part of the company’s ongoing restructure, first outlined by the operator group in November 2019, Telefonica’s majority stake in Telxius is set to be absorbed into its new infrastructure division.

The operator owns a controlling 50.01 per cent share in Telxius, with investment companies KKR Group holding 40 per cent and Pontegadea owning the remainder.

Telxius bought a large number of mobile towers from Telefonica’s German business earlier this year as it seeks to beef-up its European mobile infrastructure assets.