On 6 September 2021, VEON announced that it had reached a deal to sell its 15,400 site Russian tower portfolio to Service-Telecom for a total consideration of RUB70.65bn (EUR848mn). The deal marks the first major sale and leaseback transaction in Russia’s vast tower market and is the first big step in VEON realising the value of its 50,000 towers across Russia, and its European and Asian markets. TowerXchange examines the transaction, the Russian tower market, and the implications for VEON’s future tower strategy
In their Q4 2020 results, VEON announced that it would create towerco business units in each of its markets, looking at ways to better realise the value of its 50,000 site strong tower portfolio.