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Tele2 and GCI Launch Baltic’s Largest Independent Tower Venture

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Tele2 has announced a significant move in the Baltic telecom market. The Swedish telecommunications group is spinning off its Baltic tower assets to form a joint venture with Global Communications Infrastructure (GCI). The partnership will oversee 2,700 telecom tower sites across Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

This strategic split will see ownership of the venture equally divided between Tele2 and GCI. Under the 20-year service agreement, Tele2 will become an anchor tenant in each regional market. Jean Marc Harion, President and CEO of Tele2, stated, “We want to develop our tower assets together with a partner who brings both capital and expertise. This is a way for us to create additional value from the assets we have, together with an experienced partner who knows this business well.”

The new joint venture is valued at around €560 million, debt-free. Tele2 expects to receive approximately €440 million in cash proceeds from this transaction. Additionally, a 10-year investment plan for new tower sites across the Baltic region is part of the agreement.

Regulatory approvals are pending, but the deal is expected to be finalized by the first quarter of 2026. This deal marks a major shift in the Baltic region, where most mobile operators, until now, preferred owning and managing their tower assets. Europe’s major independent tower companies, such as Cellnex, have not significantly entered the market. The only prior instance of an independent tower operation is Bitė Group’s TeleTower, launched in 2009, managing a smaller number of assets in Latvia and Lithuania.

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