Indian mobile operator Reliance Communications (R-Com) is seeking investors for its telecoms tower unit – Reliance Infratel – in a bid to pay down debt, reports Reuters. R-Com’s board yesterday approved a proposal to bring investors into its tower arm and help create an independent tower company. The tower unit could be valued at more than US$5 billion based on recent telecom tower deals in the Indian market, the report says. Brokerage Anand Rathi Financial Services estimates that R-Com has consolidated net debt of INR341 billion (US$7.3 billion) following its expenditure in India’s recent 3G spectrum auctions, and believes the firm could almost halve this if it strikes a deal through a mix of cash and stock at its tower unit. R-Com, which had earlier planned to sell 10 percent of Reliance Infratel through an initial public offering, said it was in “advanced stage” talks with several international and local strategic and financial players for the tower unit stake and expected to announce a deal shortly.

The operator has been linked with several international investors since the 3G auctions closed. R-Com’s owner – billionaire Anil Ambani – said last week it was open to selling a 26 percent stake in the firm. R-Com is already in talks with UAE-based operator Etisalat over the sale of this stake, which is valued at around INR18,000 crore (US$3.8 billion). South Africa’s MTN and AT&T of the US have also been touted as potential investors, though both operators have subsequently denied they are in talks with R-Com. Until recently, Ambani was barred from divesting any of this stake by his brother, Mukesh, who controls the other half of the now-separate Reliance empire. However, with the two brothers recently scrapping a non-compete agreement, R-Com now appears poised to receive outside investment.