Indian telecom major Airtel and Africas Helios Towers Africa (HTA) will divest nearly 3,100 telecoms towers from Airtel to HTA across Africa
According to Airtel, this divestment covers four countries across its African operations, which will expand HTA’s tower coverage to more than 7,800 owned towers and consequently boost network quality in the continent.
Manoj Kohli, chairman, Bharti Airtel International Netherlands BV (BAIN), said, “The agreement is another milestone in Airtel’s growth journey in Africa. Airtel pioneered the concept of a separate tower entity to promote infrastructure sharing in India and this agreement is a continuation of that philosophy.
It is an important step towards the consolidation of tower assets across Africa that will drive industry-wide cost efficiencies through infrastructure sharing. The agreement will further help in accelerating the growth of telecom services in the continent and benefit the environment by avoiding duplication of infrastructure.”
Under the new deal, Airtel will be able to de-leverage through debt reduction and reduced ongoing capital expenditure, and have full access to towers from HTA.
Airtel and HTA will strategically drive cost efficiencies throughout the industry, the promotion of passive infrastructure and mitigate against the proliferation of towers, stated Airtel in a statement.
