UK Based Telecommunications Company IHS Towers Acquires Telecommunication Towers From MTN
UK Based Telecommunications Company IHS Towers Acquires Telecommunication Towers From MTN. United Kingdom based telecommunications corporation IHS Towers has announced that it has acquired 5,709 telecommunication towers in South Africa from MTN worth R6. 4 billion.
IHS Towers will own 70% of the South African Towers business with the remaining 30% owned by a B-BBEE consortium. The acquired assets as well as the provisions of PaaS across MTN’s portfolio are expected to deliver Revenue and Adjusted EBITDA of approximately US$220 million and US$80 million, respectively, in the first full year of operations. Further growth is expected through a multi-year commitment for a portion of MTN’s new towers.
With this acquisition IHS Towers aims to enter the most industrialized economy in Africa, which is a testament to the company’s commitment to maintaining its leadership position in Africa. IHS Towers will become the largest independent tower operator in South Africa as well as leveraging its operational expertise to invest in new infrastructure helping accelerate the roll-out of new technologies and delivering efficiencies for existing infrastructure.
Sam Darwish, IHS Towers Chairman and CEO said in a statement, “I am exceptionally proud to announce IHS’ creation of the largest independent tower operator in South Africa, which represents the start of a new chapter in South Africa’s telecommunications infrastructure sector. The country has a growing population of almost 60 million people and we are committed to utilising our operational expertise to invest in the towers acquired and provide cutting edge power services where necessary.”
IHS Towers is one of the largest independent owners, operators and developers of shared telecommunications infrastructure in the world by tower count and is the only towerco solely focused on the emerging markets. The Company has more than 30,500 towers across its nine markets, including Brazil, Cameroon, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Kuwait, Nigeria, Peru, Rwanda and Zambia.
