MTN yesterday reached an agreement
with IHS Holdings Limited to outsource its telecoms towers otherwise known as
base station. The agreement in principle with IHS was for the transfer and
management of MTN towers comprising up to 9,151.
The transaction is expected to reduce
MTN Nigeria's operating costs, drive network efficiencies and further expand
MTN's voice and data capacity, according to the telecoms company. The business
transaction, according to the telecoms company, was in line with its continued
efforts to further raise service levels for its customers in Nigeria. Under the
terms of the transaction and subject to requisite regulatory approvals, the
9,151 towers would be transferred to a new company, which would be owned
jointly by MTN and HIS.
But IHS would have full operational
control of the underlying business. The new towers company would market
independent infrastructure sharing services to other mobile operators and
internet service providers (ISPs) in the country. The transaction is expected
to close in the fourth quarter of this year. Announcing the new business plan,
Group President and CEO of MTN Group, Sifiso Dabengwa, said: "We are
delighted to have entered into a further transfer transaction with IHS in our
largest African market.
IHS' deep knowledge and considerable
experience in the sector will help drive efficiencies and enhance our network
uptime, allowing us to concentrate on further raising our own service levels,
improving the customer experience and ensuring we remain the number one
operator in Nigeria." This is the ninth tower transaction for IHS and its
fifth with MTN, following other transactions in Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Rwanda
and Zambia that took place in 2012 and 2013.
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