Africa-focused tower operator Eaton Towers has signed a 15-year management deal with Telkom Kenya for the latter’s 1,000 sites.
The partnership will see Eaton Towers manage Telkom Kenya’s existing sites, including investing in passive…
Africa-focused tower operator Eaton Towers has signed a 15-year management deal with Telkom Kenya for the latter’s 1,000 sites.
The partnership will see Eaton Towers manage Telkom Kenya’s existing sites, including investing in passive infrastructure upgrades, and build new sites. The fixed-line and mobile operator will however maintain ownership over the towers.
The partnership with Telkom Kenya, which is 70%-owned by France Telecom-Orange, comes more than a year after Eaton and the French incumbent signed a deal in Uganda.
In March 2012 Orange Uganda agreed to sell 280 towers to Eaton before leasing them back. The value was not disclosed. Shortly after, Eaton bought more sites in Uganda from Warid Telecom.
Orange said in a statement today that sharing passive infrastructure is a key part of its strategy to improve efficiency and control costs at its African subsidiaries. The telco has previously agreed to tower deals in Cameroon and Ivory Coast.
Commenting on the deal, Telkom Kenya CEO Mickael Ghossein added: “Through this agreement, we will be able to reduce our operational costs and, at the same time, minimise the environmental impact of our network by reducing the use of diesel fuel.”
Secures US$195m from shareholders
Meanwhile, Eaton Towers CEO Alan Harper announced that his company has raised US$195m in equity financing from majority shareholders Capital International Private Equity Fund (CIPEF) and its partners.
“Eaton Towers has raised US$195m in new equity from our shareholders for investment in Africa and the first deployment of this will be invested in upgrading Telkom Kenya’s towers and building out new network coverage,” Harper commented.
In October last year, Eaton had secured a US$60m loan in order to finance its tower acquisitions in Uganda. The financing was arranged by Standard Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
