2023 saw one of the toughest years for the African tower industry. After years of relatively affordable and accessible investment to drive acquisitions and large-scale organic growth, increasing costs of capital driven by inflation, local currency depreciation and a downward macroeconomic cycle has led to a far more conservative approach to capital allocation.
Q1 2024 saw the publishing of the end-of-year financial results from Africa’s big three towercos IHS Towers, Helios Towers and American Tower (all three being publicly listed companies). While performance varied it proved that despite major headwinds the tower model remains resilient.
IHS Towers has been hit hardest due to their exposure to the Nigerian market and the 246% devaluation of the Naira over the last 12 months, including a recent 75.3%