Telefonica announced the creation of Telxius, a new company to manage its global infrastructure. Telxius will initially include around 15,000 towers in Spain and other countries, as well as Telefonica's 31,000km of fibre cable, including the SAM-1 cable linking the US and Latin America. Alberto Horcajo has been named CEO of the company. Telxius is aimed at optimising the operator's asset portfolio and improving the return on capital. Telefonica said it may also consider incorporating third-party assets in the company.
Telefonica's international fibre network connects more than 40 countries in Europe and the Americas. This is an international Tier-1 network which carries more than 4.5 Tbps of traffic and provides telecommunications services both to Telefonica Group and other operators and service providers. Over the coming months, a number of newly created companies, including the aforementioned assets, will be gradually integrated into Telxius, the company said.
The move by Telefonica follows a trend among telecom operators to separate their network infrastructure from services to customers. In the past year, companies such as Telecom Italia, O2 Czech Republic and America Movil have created separate companies for network assets in order to optimise their investments and strategic focus. According to earlier reports, Telefonica's spin-off could lead to an eventual sale or stock market listing of Telxius. The company announced last November a review of its infrastructure portfolio in a bid to extract more value and bring down its EUR 50 billion debt.
Source: http://www.telecompaper.com/news/telefonica-spins-off-network-assets-in-new-company-telxius--1127420
