Indian mobile operator Bharti Airtel plans to create separate tower entities in each of the 16 African countries it is present, Bloomberg reports.
Last year, the Indian operator bought the African operations of UAE-based Zain for US$10.7bn.
Bharti…
Indian mobile operator Bharti Airtel plans to create separate tower entities in each of the 16 African countries it is present, Bloomberg reports.
Last year, the Indian operator bought the African operations of UAE-based Zain for US$10.7bn.
Bharti successfully separated and shared its mobile towers in India as a way of cutting costs and was expected to replicate the model in its newly acquired African assets.
Airtel Africa CEO Manoj Kohli was quoted saying the tower companies will be independent and have independent management, also reportedly arguing that infrastructure-sharing in a non-discriminatory way was the right framework.
Bharti’s rivals in Africa, Millicom, MTN and Vodacom, have already signed tower-sharing deals in Africa.
Kohli also reportedly said that Airtel targeted 100 million customers by the end of March 2013, US$5bn sales and US$2bn EBITDA.
