MTN Group has sold towers in Cote d’Ivoire and Cameroon to telco infrastructure provider IHS Holding for US$284m, as part of the company’s outsourcing strategy to save costs.
The South Africa-listed telco giant announced that it has sold 931 mobile…
MTN Group has sold towers in Cote d’Ivoire and Cameroon to telco infrastructure provider IHS Holding for US$284m, as part of the company’s outsourcing strategy to save costs.
The South Africa-listed telco giant announced that it has sold 931 mobile network towers in Cote d’Ivoire for US$141m and up to 827 towers in Cameroon for US$143m. MTN will become the anchor tenants on the towers being purchased for an initial period of ten years.
“The benefits to MTN of monetising our non-core assets and outsourcing passive infrastructure to experienced independent companies such as IHS are considerable,” said Sifiso Dabengwa, group president and CEO of MTN Group. “A reduction of our capital expenditure requirements allows us to concentrate on investing in our customer base and implementing additional services to meet the demand for innovative products and data.”
Completion of the transaction is expected during the first quarter of 2013 and will make IHS the largest independent tower company in West Africa.
“We are delighted to build on our successful partnership with MTN for whom we have previously built and maintained sites in Nigeria and Sudan,” said Issam Darwish, CEO of IHS. “This transaction is the next step in our strategy for expansion across Africa; we continue to invest in countries with attractive economic and demographic profiles. This transaction firmly positions IHS as a leading mobile tower infrastructure company in sub-Saharan Africa with resources for continued expansion and technological innovation.”
