Grid sells £2.5bn mast business

The UK is in the process of switching over how it broadcasts

Australia's Macquarie Bank has agreed to buy the mobile phone and broadcast mast business of UK power-network firm National Grid for £2.5bn ($4.9bn).

Macquarie already owns a chunk of the UK's mast business through its company Arqiva, and will combine the two firms.

The move comes as the UK is preparing to switch over from analogue to digital broadcasting by 2012, and should help smooth the transition, the firms said.

It was too early to put a figure on job losses, an Arqiva spokesman said.

"There will be some rationalisation," Reuters quoted the spokesman as saying.

"There is a considerable amount of duplication of field operations," he added. "We are currently sending two sets of vans up to transmitters on the same hilltop."

Big step

National Grid runs 4,500 miles of power lines and 4,300 miles of gas pipelines in the UK, and wants to get rid of the transmission business to concentrate on its core business.

"This represents a significant step in our strategy of focusing on the UK and US electricity and gas markets," the company said.

The company said it would use £1.8bn of the sale price to buy back its own shares.

Hampshire-based Arqiva has 2,300 masts and towers across the UK and Ireland. It also has operations in mainland Europe and the US.