三家欧洲的电信公司目前正在出售它们的部分广播发射塔业务，随着业务增长前景黯淡导致电信运营商纷纷寻求削减成本，这类举措预计将成为一种趋势。
意大利电信公司Wind Telecomunicazioni SpA的控股股东、埃及亿万富翁Naguib Sawiris周二表示，Wind已与另一家意大利电信运营商3一道开始出售它们共同拥有的广播发射塔业务。3是香港和记黄埔有限公司(Hutchison Whampoa Ltd.)的子公司。据Sawiris和其他知情人士称，这一业务最多可售得20亿欧元(合27.2亿美元)。
另据知情人士说，德国电信(Deutsche Telekom AG)正在出售其子公司T-Systems Media & Broadcast，该子公司负责将广播和电视节目信号从发射塔上发射出去。这些知情人士称，这家子公司可售得10亿欧元左右。德国电信还表示，它正考虑出售自己在德国和美国的广播电视发射塔。
无线通讯公司以及电视和广播公司都通过一系列发射塔来传输自己的通讯、节目信号。近年来，由于不断加剧的业内竞争导致电信公司纷纷想办法削减成本，一些电信运营商已不再将经营发射塔视为自己的核心业务。
与此同时，在基础设施基金以及私人资本运营公司等投资者眼中，无线信号传输已经成为了一项很有吸引力的业务。凭借与移动电话公司、电视和广播公司签署的长期发射合同作担保，发射塔网络的投资者可借入大笔贷款。
European Telecoms Set To Sell Radio Towers
THREE EUROPEAN telecommunications companies are in the process of selling parts of their radio-towers businesses, in what is expected to become a trend as carriers look to cut costs amid bleak growth prospects.
Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris, who owns a controlling stake in Italy's Wind Telecomunicazioni SpA, said yesterday Wind has teamed up with 3, another Italian carrier that is a unit of Hong Kong's Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., to sell their combined towers businesses. The sale could fetch as much as 2 billion euros ($2.72 billion), Mr. Sawiris and other people familiar with the deal said.
Separately, Germany's Deutsche Telekom AG is selling its T-Systems Media & Broadcast unit, the business which beams radio and television broadcasts from towers, according to people familiar with the matter. The sale could fetch about 1 billion euros, these people said. Deutsche Telekom has also said it is considering selling towers it owns in Germany and the U.S.
Cellphone companies, as well as television and radio broadcasters, use patchworks of towers to transmit their signals. In recent years, as telecommunications companies look for ways to cut costs in an increasingly competitive environment, some carriers are deciding that owning the towers isn't a core part of their business.
Meanwhile, transmitting wireless signals has become an attractive business for investors such as infrastructure funds and private-equity firms. Investors are able to borrow heavily with the debt secured on the long-term contracts with mobile-phone companies, television and radio broadcasters that need their signals sent over the network of towe[page]rs.
