Airtel signs new tower deal with American firm

Dar es Salaam. Bharti Airtel has entered into an agreement with American Tower Corporation for the sale of about 1,350 mobile towers in Tanzania.

Under the agreement, American Tower may acquire up to approximately 100 additional sites currently in development for an additional consideration, Airtel said in a statement yesterday without disclosing the financial details of the transaction.

“The transaction is expected to close during the first half of 2016, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals,” the telecommunications company said.

Airtel will be the anchor tenant on the portfolio under a lease with a ten-year initial term, it said.

“The proposed transaction is a continuation of our stated philosophy of divesting passive infrastructure assets and promoting sharing of towers to enhance operational efficiencies that will further the overall growth of telecom services,” Bharti Airtel managing director and chief executive officer (Africa) Christian de Faria said.

“Airtel remains committed to Tanzania and will continue to invest in its operations and serve customers with world-class services,” the official said.

Hal Hess, president of American Tower said; “We are extremely pleased to announce our entry into Tanzania and expand our partnership with Airtel, one of the world’s leading multinational network operators.”

“With a young, growing population, tremendous growth potential and a complementary location relative to our existing African operations, we view Tanzania as a highly attractive adjacent market opportunity,” he added. The release further said that the tower sale agreements allow Airtel to focus on its core business and customers, besides helping deleverage through debt reduction, and significantly reducing the on-going capital expenditure on passive infrastructure.

Tanzania has about 35.9 million subscribers and Airtel Tanzania account for about 10.8 million of them. That is 30 per cent of the total market share, according to Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) figures for last September.