By Milana Vinn

NEW YORK (Reuters) – AT&T Inc (NYSE:), the second-biggest U.S. wi-fi provider, is exploring a sale of its cybersecurity division, probably undoing an acquisition it accomplished 5 years in the past, in accordance with folks conversant in the matter.

The sale of the cybersecurity enterprise would add to a string of divestments AT&T has turned to with a purpose to pay down debt following its $108.7 billion acquisition of Time Warner Inc (NYSE:) in 2018, a deal it has since additionally unwound.

Within the final two years, AT&T offered a 30% stake in its pay TV unit DirecTV to personal fairness agency TPG for $1.8 billion, and obtained $40.4 billion in money by spinning off and merging its Warner Media enterprise with Discovery Communications (NASDAQ:) to kind Warner Bros Discovery Inc.

AT&T has been working with Barclays (LON:) Plc to solicit potential bids for its cybersecurity enterprise, which was referred to as Alienvault when it was acquired in 2018 in a roughly $600 million deal, the sources mentioned. It’s not clear how a lot the enterprise might fetch now.

The sources cautioned that no deal is for certain and requested anonymity as a result of the matter is confidential. AT&T and Barclays declined to remark.

AT&T’s cybersecurity division helps small-to-medium-sized companies maintain their info know-how networks, together with laptops, desktops, servers and cell gadgets, safe.

The acquisition of Alienvault was aimed toward giving AT&T an edge in signing up and retaining company purchasers, however the deal’s rationale has eroded as cybersecurity startups that provide low cost options mushroomed.

AT&T lowered its internet debt by about $24 billion in 2022 and is in search of to cut back it additional to about $100 billion by 2025 from $132.2 billion on the finish of December.

Credit score rankings company Moody’s (NYSE:) Buyers Service Inc mentioned in a notice on Tuesday that paying down debt was central to AT&T’s capability to put money into fiber and 5G wi-fi know-how whereas persevering with to afford paying out a dividend.