Eir sells mobile mast infrastructure company for €300m

Telecoms provider Eir has sold its tower infrastructure subsidiary to US group Phoenix Tower International for €300 million.

The sale of Emerald Tower eoncompasses steel and concrete elements, with Eir and its affiliates to retain ownership of the base stations, antennae and all telecom-related equipment, including fibre.

Eir and Phoenix are to sign a long-term service agreement for the provision of hosting services over the infrastructure as well as the construction of new sites through a build-to-suit programme.

Chief executive Carolan Lennon said: "This transaction allows us to accelerate the roll-out of our expanded 4G and 5G networks and increases Eir's capacity to further invest in our mobile network.

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“It will help us deliver the best mobile experience for all our customers across Ireland, enabling more efficient infrastructure roll-out in the future to further increase geographic coverage.”

Bank of America acted as financial advisor to Eir, while Paul Hastings and A&L Goodbody acted as legal advisors. KPMG also acted as advisor to Eir.

Eir is the largest provider of fixed line telecommunications services in Ireland, offering broadband, voice, TV, and data services to residential, small business, enterprise and government segments. It is also the third largest mobile operator in terms of revenue and customers.

Following the deal, Phoenix Tower International will own and operate in excess of 9,000 towers, 986km of fibre and over 80,000 other wireless infrastructure and related sites, the majority of which are in the Americas.