African towerco IHS has completed its sale-and-leaseback deal with Airtel Zambia, adding 949 telecoms towers to its portfolio.
Privately owned IHS announced in December last year that it would acquire 1,100 towers from Indian telco Bharti Airtel (NSE:BHARTIARTL) in Zambia and Rwanda. Airtel, which is working to cut debt, agreed to lease back the towers under a 10-year renewable contract.
In a statement today, IHS, which was advised by UBS, added that it would roll out its renewable energy solutions across the Airtel network. These involve diesel reduction initiatives that offset the unreliability of electrical grids in the region and reduce diesel consumption.
The full price tag has not been disclosed, but Airtel said in a stock exchange filing last December that it would sell the Zambian towers for US$151m.
IHS was not immediately available for comment on the status of the Rwandan deal.
IHS executive vice chairman and group CEO Issam Darwish commented: “We have been working with Airtel for many years and are delighted to continue expanding our East Africa business.
“Our partnership is designed to further promote network sharing and deliver higher quality and reliable mobile services.”
Airtel’s MD and CEO for Africa, Christian de Faria, said the deal would enable the company to reduce capex and operating costs to focus on customers, products and services.
Founded in 2001, IHS describes itself as Africa’s leading towerco, with operations in Nigeria, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Zambia and Rwanda. Following its recent acquisitions of MTN and Etisalat’s tower portfolios in Nigeria, IHS owns some 23,100 towers across the continent.