MTN, Africa’s largest mobile phone operator, could score R23 billion from a sale of its stake in HIS Towers, Africa’s largest telecommunication-towers company.
MTN owns 29% stake in IHS Towers, and the remainder is held by French investment firm Wendel SA and Goldman Sachs & Co.
Africa’s largest mobile phone operator is not selling its interest in IHS Towers, but the company informed investors on Thursday that its stake is not held for long-term strategic purposes.
“Our associate tower businesses include our 49% holdings in both ATC Ghana and ATC Uganda. During the first half we saw a strong contribution from both of R58 million in June 2019,” the company informed investors.
“Our 29% investment in IHS was fair valued at R23,1 billion at 30 June 2019. Although towers are an important operational component of the business, the investments in the existing tower companies are not viewed as long-term strategic holdings of the group.”
The global telecom tower market accounted for $40 billion in 2017 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 18% during the forecast period 2018 – 2025, to account to $146 billion by 2025.
Growth in the recent five years is primarily driven by a significant rise in subscriber base on the cellular network, creating a substantial demand for improved and optimized network infrastructures through tower deployment.
