Globe mulls $1.5B tower sale in Philippines – report

Globe Telecom looks set to become the latest in a long line of Asian telcos to sell off its mobile towers in a bid to monetize valuable assets and get a welcome injection of cash.The Manila-listed telco has previously indicated it is interested in a sale. Bloomberg now reports that Globe is considering selling half of its tower portfolio in a deal that could be worth up to $1.5 billion. Citing unidentified sources, the news agency said around 6,000 towers could be up for grabs.Globe Telecom, whose biggest shareholders include Singtel and Ayala, is said to be working with an adviser to gauge interest from potential bidders ahead of starting a formal sale.Figure 1:Globe Telecom is encouraged by the success of rival PLDT in selling off its tower assets.(Source: Pixabay)In May, the telco said it had a total of 12,194 cell towers as of the end of March after adding 252 cell sites in the first quarter of the year.It said it built 234 sites, upgraded 2,344 mobile sites to 4G, and installed 380 5G sites. Globe is also on track to build a total of 1,700 new cell sites by the end of 2022.Rising trendLight Reading has long been reporting on Asia's mania for mobile tower sales, with both telcos and investors keen to strike deals.For example, Globe rival PLDT agreed in April to sell 5,907 towers and related passive telecom infrastructure for 77 billion Philippine pesos (US$1.45 billion) to subsidiaries of EdgePoint and of edotco.Want to know more? Sign up to get our dedicated newsletters direct to your inbox.The group completed the sale of the first tranche of 3,012 towers at the beginning of June, raising about PH39.2 billion ($739 million). The entire deal is expected to be completed by the end of 2022.Globe chief financial officer Rizza Maniego-Eala told local media that the PLDT transaction has made the environment more friendly with respect to a sale.She also said the telco continues to focus on partnering with towercos to expand coverage, with 91 towerco sites added since the start of the year.Related posts:Asia-Pac telcos ready $6B in tower salesAsian telcos race to sell off towers, data centersAsian telcos, investors can't get enough mobile tower deals— Anne Morris, contributing editor, special to Light Reading