Tata Teleservices has sold a 49-per cent stake in its telecom tower business, Wireless Tata Telecom Infrastructure, to Quippo Telecom Infrastructure Ltd (QTIL), in a deal worth around Rs2,400 crore.

Tata Teleservices, India's No 2 CDMA mobile phone operator, will also shortly announce the launch of GSM-based service, its managing director Anil Saldhana said.

"We will shortly announce our GSM launch. We have got spectrum in 13 circles and the rest we expect to add by month-end, baring one or two,'' Saldhana told a news conference.

Kolkata-based QTIL will in turn transfer the 5,500 telecom towers it owns to Wireless Tata Telecom Infrastructure and take management control in the combined firm, TTSL officials said.

Quippo Telecom Infrastructure is a SREI Group subsidiary.

The board representation will, however, consist of representatives from both partners.

''Having become a 49 per cent owner they will also quickly move into the process of demerging their own towers which are there as part of the Quippo Telecom Company through a court process the moment it gets approved. When the two companies merge as a resultant ownership, TTSL and QTIL virtually become equal partners with 51 per cent and 49 per cent symbolic holdings,'' Saldanha said.

Wireless Tata Telecom Infrastructure will function as an independent tower company with non-discriminatory infrastructure access to all mobile service provider, he said.

''We are very happy and bullish about this deal, because besides unlocking shareholder value for TTSL, it creates a very valuable enterprise. In the days ahead, you would see it expanding from the 18,000 tower footprint that exists today to a front of 50,000 towers in two years, the MD said.

Already, Saldanha said, the two companies have the industry's best tower sharing ratio, which is already above 1.5 between the two players as merged. ''This will further expand to more than two in the next two years, which will be a record of sorts, because this type of tower sharing ratio means there is tremendous enterprise value that you create,'' said Saldanha

Tata Teleservices, the sixth-largest telecom service provider in India, had 31 million wireless subscribers by end-November.