13 Mar 2012 15:28

Russian telcos discussing single tower company

MOSCOW. March 13 (Interfax) - Russia's Big Three cellular providers, Rostelecom and other telcos are discussing the formation of a single infrastructure company, VimpelCom chief Anton Kudryashov told reporters.

"I think it'll be a question of creating one from scratch," Kudryashov said, when asked whether a tower company might be bought or created.

The operators will probably co-own the company. "Perhaps external funding will be raised, an external strategic partner," Kudryashov said. The operators could use their existing tower infrastructure as the basis for the company, he said.

There are no specific agreements between the potential partners as yet, but "conceptually they all back this," he said.