New York-based Verizon has hired advisers to gauge interest from potential buyers for a package of roughly 5,000 to 6,000 towers, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information. A sale could bring in more than $3 billion, one of the people said.
Deliberations are preliminary, and there’s no guarantee they’ll result in a sale, the people said. A representative for Verizon declined to comment.
Verizon in 2015 sold the rights to lease and operate about 11,000 towers to American Tower Corp. for an upfront payment of $5 billion as part of a deal that helped it raise funds for airwave purchases and to pay down debt.
The towers on the block this time around are expected to draw interest from infrastructure firms and strategic buyers, the people said.
Telecom giants have from time to time turned to their mobile-phone towers as a way to raise cash. AT&T Inc. agreed in 2013 to sell 9,700 towers to Crown Castle International Corp. in a $4.8 billion deal. In that case, AT&T used the funding to begin an upgrade of its network.