BENGALURU (Reuters) - Indian telecom operator Vodafone Idea Ltd said on Tuesday American Tower Corp (ATC) Telecom Infrastructure has requested conversion of debentures worth 14.4 billion rupees ($173.5 million) into equity shares.

Vodafone Idea said it will take necessary action to allot ATC 1.44 billion fully paid-up equity shares by converting its 14,400 optionally convertible debentures (OCD).

Debentures worth 16 billion rupees were issued to ATC in January last year.

Earlier this year, Brookfield Asset Management ( BAM ) said it will buy ATC's loss-making Indian operations for $2.5 billion, becoming the country's largest operator of telecom towers.

($1 = 83.0104 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Ashna Teresa Britto in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)