India's Idea Cellular is rumored to be negotiating a deal to sell its independently-operated towers for around 75 billion rupees ($1.18 billion).
The operator has attracted interest from companies including Malaysia's Axiata, Bharti Infratel and American Tower Corporation, sources told the Times of India.
Idea Cellular, India's third largest mobile operator, owns and operates around 11,000 towers. The company is also a member of the three-way tower joint venture Indus Towers, which operates over 115,000 towers across India.
The operator has been seeking ways to reduce its debt burden accrued from expensive spectrum auctions and network rollouts. The company has a net debt of around 140 billion rupees.
Malaysia's Axiata, an investor in Idea, has been rumored to be seeking to acquire the Indian operator's tower arm since 2012, while Bharti Airtel subsidiary Bharti Airtel is pursuing acquisitions to spend its cash surplus.
ATC is also hunting for acquisitions, and was recently linked to a possible purchase of tower JV Viom Networks or of Reliance Infratel.