Bharti Airtel has failed to complete the sale of a portfolio of telecoms towers in Africa agreed with Eaton Towers over a year ago, hence the deal is off.
The Indian mobile operator on Friday issued a short statement noting that the agreement between the pair has lapsed and "therefore stands terminated."
It brokered a deal of undisclosed value with Eaton Towers in early September last year. Under the terms of the deal, Eaton was to acquire over 3,500 towers in six African countries and lease them back to Bharti for a 10-year period.
The contract was one of a number of passive infrastructure deals inked by Bharti over the past couple of years, as it seeks to reduce both costs and debt.
It has closed a couple of these deals recently.
In July it announced the completion of the sale of mobile towers in five African markets to various companies, raising US$1.3 billion.
And in September IHS Holding took control of 949 towers from Bharti in Zambia. It will lease them back to Airtel Zambia via long-term renewable contracts.
However, the deal with Eaton Towers is not the only one to have fallen apart.
Bharti had planned to sell cellsites in Tanzania and Chad to Helios Towers Africa, but announced in June that those contracts had lapsed and were therefore terminated.
