23,800 additional African towers will be transferred from MNOs to independent towercos in six major deals announced in the second half of 2014, with further transactions imminent. African towercos now own or operate 47,600 (or 29%) of Africa’s towers.
The size of Africa’s tower industry doubled in two quarters, triggered by Airtel’s sale of towers in 16 of their 17 African countries (sales of 4,800 towers to American Tower, 3,500 to Eaton, 3,100 to Helios Towers Africa and 1,113 to IHS have been announced to date). The sale of Airtel’s Nigerian Towers, recently secured by American Tower, stimulated two other deals in Africa’s most lucrative mobile market, both of which were closed before the Airtel deal; Etisalat Nigeria sold 2,136 of their ~2,700 towers to IHS, while MTN sold all 9,151 of their Nigerian towers to the same counterparty, retaining a 51% stake in the joint venture.
