Zain postpones KSA tower sale to IHS, towerco remains committed to the region

On 20^th June 2019, the Saudi telecoms regulator, the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC) wrote to Zain Saudi Arabia, precipitating the operator announcing the postponement of their tower sale to IHS Towers on 23 June. Originally announced in November 2018, the IHS-Zain KSA deal marked an inflection point in the MENA tower market, but questions will now be asked about what happens next. TowerXchange examines the context for the deal and how the MENA tower market will develop absent this long-awaited, highly anticipated deal. On 27 March 2019, in a disclosure to the Boursa Kuwait, Zain announced that its Board of Directors had signed an agreement with IHS Holding Limited (IHS Towers) for the sale and leaseback of 8,100 towers, plus a 1,500 build-to-suit programme, in a deal worth SAR2.52bn