Ooredoo Group outlined plans to separate its towers from the main business, a move confirmed weeks after speculation it was considering selling-off the assets completely.

In a statement, Ooredoo explained it was preparing for a “potential carve-out” of its towers across its footprint in an attempt to become asset light. It also aims to assess options on how to raise cash from the infrastructure.

The company owns 20,000 towers across its mobile operations, which cover various markets in the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia.

Following the spin-off Ooredoo noted it would be able to “work on a deal that is suitable for target markets, attract third tenant business and create efficiencies”.

In making the move, Ooredoo would follow a trend which has been gaining traction in recent years, with groups and individual operators looking to either sell, attract investment into, or lease access to their assets by creating new companies housing them.