American Tower Corporation (ATC) has officially exited the Indian telecom tower market, completing a $2.2 billion deal with a Brookfield-led consortium. This marks a significant shift in India’s telecommunications landscape. The consortium, which includes Brookfield Asset Management, British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI), and GIC, has acquired approximately 76,000 telecom towers from American Tower.
THE SALE OF AMERICAN TOWER’S INDIA ASSETS will reduce the global leader’s employee count, although the total reduction has not been announced. However, the sale of 76,000 towers is almost a third of the company’s global portfolio of 224,000 sites.
The buyer, Data Infrastructure Trust (DIT), now oversees a vast portfolio of 257,000 telecom sites across India, positioning itself as the largest telecom infrastructure provider in the country under its new brand name, Altius. This acquisition builds on Brookfield’s previous investments in India’s Wireless Communications sector, including its 2022 purchase of indoor business solution sites and a 2020 deal for 175,000 towers from Reliance Industrial Investments.
Arpit Agrawal, Managing Partner at Brookfield, emphasized the strategic value of the acquisition, stating that it strengthens Brookfield’s hold in India’s rapidly growing telecom market. Munish Seth, Group Managing Director at Data Link, highlighted Altius’s expanded scale and capabilities, which will create value for investors while meeting India’s telecom needs.
This move is part of Brookfield’s broader strategy in India, where it manages approximately $29 billion in assets across multiple sectors, including infrastructure, real estate, and renewable energy.
American Tower’s exit from India follows a period of financial adjustments, including a $322 million goodwill impairment charge related to its decision to divest its India operations. The company, which works with major Indian telecom players like Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, and Vodafone Idea, recorded 88% of its revenue from Asia Pacific through its Indian business.
With the completion of this deal, Brookfield has surpassed Indus Towers, which had 225,910 sites as of June 2024, to become India’s largest mobile tower operator. This acquisition consolidated Brookfield’s position in the Indian market and is expected to drive telecom connectivity across the country further.
