As of June 2023, towercos own and manage 48.5% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s 183,064 telecom towers.
We can start 2023 with a look back. 2022 saw several deals close, some founder and new rumours begin to swirl. Airtel finalised its sales to Helios Towers in Madagascar and Malawi, while the year kicked off with Minara Towers closing on Airtel’s towers in Tanzania. Unfortunately, we also end 2022 with confirmation that Airtel’s proposed sale to Helios Towers in Gabon is cancelled. We still wait for news of a local towerco acquiring Airtel’s towers in Chad.
So far in 2023, in South Africa, IHS Towers has been linked in the press to a potential acquisition of Telkom’s towerco group Swiftnet.