The towers were sold for an undisclosed amount and IHS and its subsidies will own and operate MTN’s 550 towers in Rwanda and 719 towers in Zambia.
“Under the agreements, IHS will acquire and operate the towers and related passive infrastructure and will invest in a build-to-suit programme to support MTN’s future requirements in both countries,” IHS said in a statement.
“MTN Rwanda and MTN Zambia will become the respective anchor tenants on the towers, while co-location services will be offered to the other operators in those markets.”
The acquisition increases IHS’s footprint across Africa and the company hopes it will help it to tap into additional markets.
“We have worked tirelessly to exceed 99.9% network uptime across the continent for MTN and will bring the same commitment to these new portfolios in Rwanda and Zambia,” said Issam Darwish, CEO at IHS.
In March 2014, MTN was in talks with South African fixed-line provider Telkom over a network sharing deal.
