News
Infrastructure firm agrees to acquire 1,350 towers from India-based telco.
American Tower entered Tanzania on Monday by agreeing to acquire towers from Bharti Airtel’s local operation.
Under the deal, American Tower will take ownership of 1,350 Airtel Tanzania towers. The company also has an option to pay extra to acquire another 100 sites currently in development.
"We are pleased to strengthen our partnership with American Tower in Africa. The proposed transaction is a continuation of our stated philosophy of divesting passive infrastructure assets and promoting sharing of towers to enhance operational efficiencies that will further the overall growth of telecom services," said Christian de Faria, CEO of Bharti Airtel’s Africa business, in a statement.
Indeed, Bharti Airtel is in the middle of a years-long process of selling tower assets in 13 African countries to various companies.
In July 2015, the telco raised US$1.3 billion from the sale of towers in five markets. That announcement came days after Bharti completed the sale of 4,700 towers in Nigeria to American Tower.
"We are extremely pleased to announce our entry into Tanzania and expand our partnership with Airtel," said Hal Hess, EMEA president of American Tower. "With a young, growing population, tremendous growth potential and a complementary location relative to our existing African operations, we view Tanzania as a highly-attractive adjacent market opportunity."
The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close during the first half of this year. Financial terms were not disclosed.
