Eaton Towers, an independent telecoms tower company in Africa and Airtel, owners of Airtel Nigeria have jointly announced an agreement for the acquisition of over 3500 telecoms towers belonging to the Indian mobile phone giant.
Under the 10-year deal, over 3500 towers will be acquired across six countries in Africa in what signals a move by Airtel to embrace a growing industry trend.
The acquisition follows Airtel and Eaton Towers’ strategies to drive cost efficiencies throughout the industry via the use of shared passive infrastructure, both companies said about the 10-year lease contract.
Alan Harper, CEO of Eaton Towers says “this is a transformational deal which gives Eaton Towers the most diversified tower portfolio across Africa. We are proud to be chosen by Airtel as their key partner in these six countries.”
Commenting on the development, Manoj Kohli, Chairman, Bharti Airtel International Netherlands BV (BAIN), Airtel’s selling entity, says “we are delighted to announce this agreement, which represents the next phase of Airtel’ s growth journey in Africa. We are the pioneers and strong proponents of telecoms infrastructure sharing, which results in industry-wide cost efficiencies. The agreement with Eaton Towers is an extension of this philosophy and will lead to far superior utilisation of passive infrastructure and help drive the proliferation of affordable mobile services across Africa.”
The agreements will allow Airtel to focus on its core business and customers. The agreements are subject to statutory and regulatory approvals in the respective countries.
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