Africa needs more towercos. But only at specific levels of the tower industry. While Africa’s “Big Four” towercos are snapping up the majority of towers in the most investible markets through sale and leaseback transactions, often bundled with build to suit programmes focusing on multi-tenant towers, gaps are opening up in the market for “middle market” towercos able to focus on smaller transactions in higher risk markets, or able to deliver low cost, single tenant towers. Meanwhile, the Nigerian and South African markets remain big enough to sustain entrepreneurial towercos targeting niche opportunities in BTS, rooftops, billboards, IBS and other “special structures.”
