IHS Holding Limited has authenticated contracts to acquire 5,709 telecommunication towers in South Africa from Mobile Telephone Networks Proprietary Limited (MTN), one of the pioneering mobile telecommunications operatives. IHS Towers will also facilitate a Power-as-a-Service (PaaS) to MTN at around 12,800 sites throughout the South African geography (inclusive of the 5,709 acquired sites).
The IHS Towers acquisition
IHS Holding Limited is one of the biggest independent owners, developers, and operators of shared telecommunications substructures in the globe, in terms of tower count.
Cash contemplation in this transaction is valued at ZAR 6.4 billion (USD 410,000). The acquired assets alongside the provisions of the PaaS across Mobile Telephone Networks Proprietary Limited’s portfolio are estimated to render Revenue and Adjusted EBITDA of around USD 20 million and USD 80 million, respectively, in the foremost year of completion of the operations (according to the present exchange rate). Moreover, a growth curve is estimated via a multi-year commitment for a fraction of MTN’s new-fangled towers.
Through the acquisition, IHS Towers will come to the most commercial economy in Africa, which is a testimony to the firm’s commitment to facilitating its leadership position in Africa. IHS Towers will emerge as the biggest independent tower operative entity in South Africa as well as leverage its operational experience to invest in new-fangled infrastructure to aid quicken the roll-out of new-fangled technologies and provide competencies for prevalent infrastructure.
IHS Towers will possess 70% of the South African Towers business with the remainder 30% possessed by a B-BBEE syndicate. The firm is facilitating progressive discussions with a conglomerate of B-BBEE investors, which will be accomplished in due course.
IHS Towers Chairman and CEO, Sam Darwish, stated that he was exponentially proud to declare IHS’ development of the biggest independent tower operative entity in South Africa, which embodies the beginning of a renewed chapter in South Africa’s telecommunications infrastructure domain. The nation encompassed a maturing population of around 60 million people and was committed to using their operational experience to invest in the acquired towers and deliver cutting edge power services wherever it is essential, Darwish said.
Darwish stated that IHS Towers’ long-term relationship with the MTN Group, etched with the former’s 20 years of operative expertise in the South African territory and track record of facilitating reliable network uptime, enables the firm to provide an infrastructure that has the capacity of adhering to South Africa’s massively cosmopolitan data demands. Despite the firm’s expansion into new territories over the past 2 years, this contract is a testimony to IHS Towers’ constant dedication to delivering mobile connectivity throughout the African continent, he said.
