The deal marks the completion of American Tower's strategic review of its Indian business.

According to Capacity's sister publication TowerXchange, American Tower owns 77,172 in India.

DIT is home to Brookfield's other telecom towers and related infrastructure investments in India, namely Summit Digitel, Crest Digitel and the newly launched Roam Digitel.

Summit Digitel owns 177,000 towers, according to the latest data from TowerXchange.

Combined with Summit Digitel, the 77,172 tower swing makes Summit Digtiel the world's second-largest towerco, behind China Tower and overtaken Indian rival Indus Towers, which remains the world's third-largest towerco.

“We look forward to expanding and enhancing our existing portfolio of telecom towers in India, enabling a broader range of solutions for our customers and partners,” said Arpit Agrawal, Brookfield managing director and head of infrastructure for India and the Middle East.

The American Tower, meanwhile, will drop from second to fourth place in number of towers.

American Tower Asia Pacific will continue to own towers in Bangladesh and the Philippines. It has been active in India for 17 years.

The anchor tenant on most of the American Tower sites is Vodafone Idea, which has had significant financial problems in recent years, leading the government to convert royalties into equity.

At one point, there was discussion that American Tower itself could convert unpaid rent on its towers' premises into equity in Vodafone Idea.

American Tower will retain the full economic benefits associated with Vodafone Idea's Optionally Converted Notes and will be entitled to future payments in respect of ATC India's existing claims.

American Tower will use the proceeds of the transaction to repay other debt.

Citi is acting as lead financial advisor and CDX Advisors is acting as financial advisor to American Tower. Talwar Thakore & Associates (TT&A) is acting as principal legal counsel to American Tower.

The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2024.