The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that BCE is selling a minority stake in its cellphone towers to Quebec's Caisse pension fund for $2.45-billion, which the country's largest telco will use to pay down debt and expand its datacentre business. The Globe's Andrew Willis writes that Montreal-based Bell is selling the Caisse a 49.9-per-cent interest in more than 5,000 cellphone sites and will retain ownership of the rest of the subsidiary. The new company, called TowerCo as its owners search for a brand name, earns fees by charging Bell and other clients to use its infrastructure. Bell decided to sell a stake in its towers to hit debt-reduction targets while investing in growth initiatives, such as domestic artificial-intelligence infrastructure and a U.S. fibre optic network. Chief executive officer Mirko Bibic told The Globe that several domestic and foreign institutional investors bid on Bell's towers during an auction that stretched over several months. Rivals Telus and Rogers have raised billions of dollars through infrastructure sales, using the money to pay down debt and fund acquisitions. RBC Capital Markets analysts said in a report that the tower sale was "incremental positive" for BCE.