Vodafone plans to create Europe’s largest mobile phone mast operator by creating a separate company for its tower infrastructure.
The new mast business could float on the stock market in the next 18 months.
The world’s second largest mobile operator made the announcement as it revealed first-quarter revenues slid on the back of poor exchange rates. Vodafone reported a 2% fall in total revenue to 10.7 billion euros (£9.59 billion).
Vodafone yesterday revealed an agreement with O2 to share 5G antennas, on joint network sites across the UK.
Nick Read, group chief executive of Vodafone, said: “Our service revenue growth improved during the first quarter, led by Italy, and mobile churn fell to another record low.
“Following a significant quarter of commercial activity, we expect the gradual recovery in our service revenues to continue, underpinning our financial outlook for the year.
“We will capture industrial efficiencies through network-sharing agreements signed in multiple markets and today we are announcing the decision to create Europe’s largest tower company.
“We believe there is a substantial opportunity to unlock the embedded value of our towers and we have started preparations for a range of monetisation options over the next 18 months, including a potential IPO.”
