BENGALURU, March 19 (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)