American Tower, Eaton Towers, Helios Towers Africa and IHS Africa, the ‘Big Four’ market leading towercos in Africa, are all well financed. All four have the credibility of having completed multiple tower transactions in Africa. But with tens of thousands of towers expected to come to market in Africa, it is clear that US$billions of investment is needed.
If the African telecoms infrastructure market is restructured to anything like the extent of the Indian market, where 85% of towers are owned by independent towercos, then Africa’s towercos are going to need capital to finance plenty more acquisitions – only 5-10% of Africa’s towers have transferred from operator-captive to towercos to date.
