Q1 2021 UPDATE

TowerXchange’s
Sub-Saharan
African guide
A country-by-country guide to the
Sub-Saharan African tower industry
 REGIONAL GUIDE AFRICA

Introduction
As of March 2021, towercos own and manage 40.3% of Figure 1: Breakdown of ownership of Africa’s 169,347 telecom towers (Q1 2021)
Sub Saharan Africa’s 169,347 telecom towers. ESCOs
manage power at 19,723 sites, for both towercos and
MNOs. After a few years of relative stability in the
industry, things are changing fast.
Smaller towercos
2,197

75% of towerco-owned towers are owned by the “Big Africa Mobile Networks
Three” of IHS Towers, American Tower and Helios 1,785

Towers, but a number of alternative towercos are Pan African Towers

sprouting up to challenge and complement the existing 1,600

hierarchy. Four towercos stand out, either for their Infratel

IHS Towers American Tower 1,300
formidable management teams and financial backing or 24,126 19,863
because of their successful recent rollouts: TowerCo of Madagascar
1,200

⚫A
 frica Mobile Networks: Africa’s fastest growing Atlas Tower/SBA
Communications
towerco, Africa Mobile Networks is a rural specialist 1,095
that has built nearly 2,000 sites from a standing start.
MNOs Helios Towers Gyro Group
Its unique revenue share model, low-cost sites and 101,105 8,576 6,500
Source: TowerXchange
NaaS offering is a potentially disruptive alternative to
the traditional towerco model.

⚫ Eastcastle Infrastructure: Established by Peter Lewis
and Pankaj Kulshrestha (the former Eaton Towers
CFO and COO) and currently courting investment from
African Infrastructure Investment Management, Adenia
Partners and the IFC, Eastcastle is targeting the build-
to-suit opportunity and plans to deploy 1,950 telecom
towers across West Africa, including Nigeria, Cote
d’Ivoire and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
⚫ Paradigm Infrastructure: Founded by ex-American
Tower stalwarts Steve Harris, Steven Marshall and Hal
Hess, Paradigm Infrastructure is targeting sale and
leasebacks in several African markets. Paradigm has
been linked to the Airtel Tanzania tower sale and to the
new towerco licence process in Egypt.
⚫ SBA Communications: SBA Communications’ entry
into Africa through acquiring Atlas Tower has given the

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 REGIONAL GUIDE AFRICA

INTRODUCTION

American giant a strong footprint to build upon. It remains
to be seen whether SBA Communications expands first
within South Africa or elsewhere on the continent through
partnerships with other towercos or investors.
Pan African Towers would have made the list, but having
lost their CEO to Liquid Telecom Nigeria, TowerXchange
is waiting to see who will be taking the helm. Similarly,
Nate Foster continues to operate Atlas Tower outside
South Africa, with several sites built in Kenya, but has yet
to reach the pace of new build achieved in South Africa;
Atlas Tower remains one to watch.
The sale and leaseback drought since 2016 is over.
Helios Towers fired the staring pistol on a new phase of
M&A in Africa by inking a deal to acquire 1,220 towers
in Senegal. Soon after this deal MTN reported it was
looking at selling some or all of its 13,000 sites in South
Africa; a deal which would be transformational for the
South African telecom tower industry.
Now, in March 2020 Helios Towers announces plans to
acquire over 2,000 sites from Airtel Africa in Madagascar,
Malawi, Chad and Gabon. Helios Towers are in advanced
discussions on another 7,500 sites with more in the
longer-term pipeline. New acquirers are also popping up,
like the aforementioned Paradigm Infrastructure and the
low profile Telecom Towers Africa.
Of Africa’s major MNOs, Vodacom retain towers in
South Africa, Democratic Republic of the Congo,

Figure 2: Estimated tower counts for selected countries in SSA

Namibia Chad Cameroon

749 2,000 3,737

Malawi Burkina Faso

1,000 2,757

Rwanda Zambia
1,300 3,182

Cote
Uganda Mozambique DRC Ghana Ethiopia Tanzania Kenya Nigeria South Africa
d’Ivoire
4,187 4,400 4,845 6981 7,300 7,776 8,070 32,069 33,837
4,344

Niger
1,853

Gabon Zimbabwe Angola

1,001 3,000 3,318

Congo Brazzaville Madagascar Senegal

871 2,310 4,045 Source: TowerXchange

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INTRODUCTION

Figure 3: Estimated tower counts for selected countries in SSA also working with NuRAN to roll out 1,000s of towers
on an OpenRAN basis – opting out of the traditional
948 towerco and OEM market altogether.

IHS Towers 16,481 2,720 2,220 1,757 3,370

Orange has also been instrumental in the growth of
707 720
ESCOs in Africa. While Airtel’s ESCO deal in Gabon was
made necessary because it couldn’t sell its towers,
American Tower 5,823 3,989 3,387 2,831 2,406 ESCOs have formed a positive part of Orange’s strategy
to retain the sites it considers strategically important
426
while outsourcing the tricky business of power
1,220 management. Orange recently activated its Cameroon
Helios Towers 3,821 1,895 978 *subject to closure of
Free Senegal acquisition ESCO agreement with Aktivco, its seventh ESCO market,
236 with a deal freshly inked with ESCOTEL in the DRC.
Africa Mobile 550 180 60
240 180 5
Networks 440 125 5 (Pity the Orange Cameroon Relationship Manager,
dealing with sites leased from IHS Towers
commercially, other sites managed under their
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000
Managed with Licence arrangement, 300 sites
managed by Aktivco, 240 Africa Mobile Network sites
Uganda Nigeria Cote d’Ivoire Zambia Liberia
[with perhaps some on an opex basis and some on a
Tanzania Ghana Cameroon Congo B Guinea Bissau
revenue share basis] and now sites running on NuRAN
Kenya Burkina Faso Niger Senegal Non-African towers
OpenRAN base stations!)
South Africa DRC Rwanda Guinea Conakry Source: TowerXchange

The energy headaches that confront telecom networks

Mozambique, Lesotho and Kenya through its
Safaricom subsidiary. MTN retains towers in Sudan,
South Sudan, Benin, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea-Conakry
and Liberia, and in eSwatini and Botswana through
its subsidiaries. After their deal with Helios, Airtel will
retain towers only in Tanzania.
Outside Cote d’Ivoire and Cameroon, Orange retains
its towers and has no plans to sell to a towerco. In
fact, they have been prime instigators of alternatives.
Alongside MTN, Orange are Africa Mobile Network’s
major client, sending 100s of rural build-to-suit sites to
the towerco. And in the DRC and Cameroon they are
in Africa appear to be relenting somewhat, with Helios
Towers reporting material improvements to their bottom
line thanks to grid connections in Tanzania and DRC.
Similarly, a site connected to a grid which can provide
energy for 20+ ours a day becomes the perfect site for
hybridisation and battery back-up, enabling towercos
to cut out diesel generators and refuelling expenses.

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 REGIONAL GUIDE AFRICA

Figure 4: Heatmap of tower deals and towerco activity in MENA

Nevertheless, diesel generators and distributed Figure 4: TowerXchange SSA towerco activity and tower transaction heatmap
renewable generation are here to stay, especially as
Africa continues to add 1,000 of new sites each year.

We continue to wait for IHS Towers’ IPO. After first

exploring an IPO in 2018, IHS Towers published a notice
in August 2020 that they were looking to list in New York.
However, since then there has been little reported from
the global towerco giant, in fact, IHS Towers has since
acquired another 1,000 sites in Brazil as well as being
linked to a tower sale in Oman, the licence process in
Egypt and a deal to form a joint venture in Saudi Arabia
to control Zain and Mobily’s 19,100 towers.

Africa’s strong macroeconomic performance and rapid

demographic growth make it a hot spot for telecom
investment. Over the next five years Africa’s population
is expected to grow at a rate of 2.5%, its economy at
3.5% and mobile subscription growth at 3.1% (Helios
Towers Annual Report, 2020). This compares very to
favourably to the developed world. Despite struggling
Towercos own the majority of towers
through lost decades, Africa has had a strong growth
record this century, and its young economies have Towercos own a significant portion of towers
proved surprisingly resilient to the COVID-shock. with at least one major tower deal completed
These factors are driving the resurgence of sale and
Limited towerco activity. No major tower deals
leasebacks and the entry of new capital and new teams
completed
looking to serve the African telecom tower market.
No known towerco activity
TowerXchange provides a country by country analysis
New SLBs or carve outs expected or rumoured
of tower ownership and market dynamics across 24 of
the more active tower markets in sub-Saharan Africa. Source: TowerXchange

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Figure 5a: Multi-country towerco footprints in sub-Saharan Africa

ry

u
k

sa
o

n
na
re
a

da
ric

s
Fa

oi

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a

Bi
oo

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a

Iv
Af

an
ry

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da
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ga
ria

ea

ea
d’

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t

in

o
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bi

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un

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an

an

da

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ny

nz

rk

te
ge

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ts
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Rw

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Gh

Gu

Gu
Ug

Co

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Bo
Bu

Ca
So

So
Ke

Su

Se
Za
Ta
Ni

Ni

Li
Helios Towers
Towerco

Africa Mobile Networks

IHS Towers

American Tower

Figure 5b: Single-country towercos

Ghana Kenya Zimbabwe

African SEAL Eighty Four
Towers Towers Dynamics

South Africa
GyroTowers
Coast to coast Nigeria Unknown
Blue Sky Networks
BCTek Engineering Botswana Senegal Madagascar Country
Sentech
Hostpot Networks Pula Al Karama Towerco of Paradigm Infrastructure
Comco
Communication Towers Towers Towers Madagascar Eastcastle
Eagle Towers
Secured Towers Infrastructure
Sky Coverage
International Tower Corporation
Atlas Towers SA (SBA Communications)

Namibia Angola Uganda

PowerCom ANTOSC Ubuntu Towers

Source: TowerXchange

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 REGIONAL GUIDE AFRICA

Figure 6: ESCO footprint in sub-Saharan Africa

Burkina Faso: Aktivco

CAR: CREI

Cote d’Ivoire: Aktivco

Chad: Aktivco

DRC: Sagemcom

Gabon: Energy Vision

Guinea Conakry: IPT, CREI

Liberia: Sagemcom, CREI

Niger: Aktivco

Nigeria: IPT, Biswal, Mantrac, NEC XON and

Energy Vision

Country with confirmed live ESCO(s)

Lebanon: IPT
ESCO RFP live or rumoured to be imminent
Sierra Leone: Sagemcom
Confirmed live ESCO(s) with further RFPs live
or rumored Sudan: Ascot

No ESCO activity yet detected Zimbabwe: Distributed Power Africa

Source: TowerXchange

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 REGIONAL GUIDE AFRICA

Figure 7: SIMs per tower in Africa

World 1,373

South Africa 2,862

Gabon 2,930

Mozambique 3,198

Namibia 3,767

Zimbabwe 4,398

Senegal 4,420

Angola 4,469

Madagascar 4,612

Nigeria 5,367

Zambia 5,411

Ethiopia 5,424

Niger 5,782

Africa 5,785

Uganda 5,845

Ghana 5,852

Congo Brazzaville 5,740

Tanzania 6,132

Kenya 6,760

Cameroon 6,959

Burkina Faso 7,386

Rwanda 7,429

DRC 7,662

Chad 7,973

Cote d’Ivoire 8,751

Malawi 8,901

0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000

Source: TowerXchange

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Angola
Figure 8: Angola – estimated tower count

680
Towers: Population: Subscribers: 38
(World Bank, 2019): (World Bank, 2019):
ANTOSC
3,318 31,825,000 14,830,000
Unitel

SIMs per tower: 4,469 SIM penetration: 46.6%

1,800 Movicel

MNOs: Africell, Angola Telecom, Movitel, Unitel 800 Angola Telecom

Towercos: ANTOSC

ESCOs: None Source: TowerXchange

Angola now has three MNOs, Africell, Unitel and Movicel.
Unitel has around about two thirds of the market, Movicel
the other third and Africell which is still establishing its
network before launch later in 2021. In order to reach the
level of coverage they are targeting, Unitel needs to add a
further 1,000 sites and Movicel a further 2,000. Depending
on network planning and sharing arrangements Africell will
need the use of 1,000s of sites directly or indirectly. Angola
Telecom, the fixed line incumbent, is reportedly aiming to
become an infrastructure provider, despite possessing a
universal licence.
Whilst infrastructure sharing to date has been limited, a new
law came into force in 2016, prohibiting the construction
of a new site in close proximity to an existing one. Such
legislation will necessitate infrastructure sharing going
forward. ANTOSC are Angola’s first independent towerco
and have built 38 sites already and the towerco expects to
have around 400 sites within three years. They appear well
positioned to assist Africell in its network rollout.
Grid infrastructure in the country is poor with 85% of sites
understood to be operating on diesel generators. Unitel in
particular have put a lot of focus on renewables, looking
at solar hybrid systems on a number of their sites whilst
ANTOSC have deployed DG battery hybrids on the first
wave of towers they have rolled out.

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Burkino Faso
Figure 9: Burkino Faso – estimated tower count Faso. Prior to their opco being acquired by Orange,
Airtel sold their towers to Eaton Towers which acquired
a portfolio of nearly 700 sites on which Orange is now
the anchor tenant. Omatel has the largest portfolio of
500 towers in the country, at approximately 1,000 sites.
Towers: Population: Subscribers: Telecell owns around 550 towers.
(World Bank, 2019): (World Bank, 2019):

2,757 20,321,000 20,364,000

SIMs per tower: 7,386 SIM penetration: 100%
MNOs: Onatel, Orange, Telecel
Towercos: American Tower
ESCOs: Aktivco
There are three MNOs in Burkina Faso; with Onatel
(part of the Maroc Telecom group) having 42% market
share, Orange (which acquired Airtel’s opco in the
country) having 44% market share and third placed,
Telecel with 14%. 3G was launched in the country in
2013 and 4G trials were begun by Onatel and Orange
following the introduction of a new licencing region.
However, mobile broadband penetration still sits at only
1,000 Eaton Towers had engaged in some decommissioning
and build-to-suit, with American Tower announcing the
acquisition of 677 towers, but its primary investment in
Burkina Faso had been in upgrading the energy assets
550
it inherited from Airtel. Orange also reports that it leases
space on just over 100 towers owned by the other
MNOs whilst retaining a portfolio of around 300 sites.
In July 2018, Orange signed a ten-year ESCO agreement
707 with Camusat’s Aktivco, and whilst the number of sites
this covers has not been disclosed, TowerXchange
estimate this to be around 500, including some organic
Onatel Telecel growth delivered by Camusat. American Tower has also
American Tower Orange been adding sites at a slow by steady rate.
Source: TowerXchange
47%, with the overall mobile penetration rate hovering
around 100%. At the start of 2020 American Tower
acquired Eaton Towers and all its sites within Burkina

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Cameroon
Figure 10: Cameroon – estimated tower count

240
300 IHS Towers
Towers: Population: Subscribers:
(World Bank, 2019): (World Bank, 2019): IHS Towers (under MLL for Orange)
3,737 25,876,000 21,155,000 400 1,394
Nexttel

SIMs per tower: 6,959 SIM penetration: 82%

CamTel

MNOs: MTN, Orange, CamTel Nexttel 577 Orange

Towercos: IHS Towers, Africa Mobile Networks Africa Mobile Networks

826
ESCOs: Aktivco Source: TowerXchange

There are four MNOs in Cameroon; MTN, Orange, state-
owned CamTel and Viettel-owned Nexttel. IHS Towers
owns or manages a portfolio of 2,220 sites having acquired
towers from MTN and entered into a management with
license to lease (MLL) contract with Orange. Orange
manage at least 300 sites of their own outside of their
arrangement with IHS Towers, but have also recently
started working with Africa Mobile Networks.
AMN, a low cost rural-specialist which offers revenue Cameroon, with the sites featuring a solar-powered
shares and opex-based site leasing, have 240 sites carrier-grade GSM base station to enable a remote
active in Cameroon, with both Orange and MTN. Orange tower with a small footprint.
have awarded a 300 site ESCO RFP to Camusat’s
Aktivco. Orange will be deploying a total of 242 rural
OpenRAN sites, with each consisting of towers
and equipment to be installed by NuRAN. NuRAN’s
technology is targeted towards rural communities in

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Chad

Towers: Population: (World Bank, 2019): Subscribers: (World Bank, 2019):

2,000 15,946,000 7,664,000

SIMs per tower: 7,973 SIM penetration: 48%

MNOs: Airtel, Moov Africa and Sotel

Towercos: Helios Towers* *pending acquisition of Airtel’s towers

ESCOs: Aktivco

There are three MNOs (Airtel, Maroc Telecom and
Sotel) and an estimated 2,000 towers in Chad, a
country where electrification sits at just 4%. Tigo sold
their Opco to Maroc Telecom in July 2019. Plans by
Helios Towers to acquire Airtel’s 539 towers were
announced at the end of March 2020, alongside plans
to buy towers in Malawi, Madagascar and Gabon. As
in Gabon, the Chad acquisition will take some time to
close due to the more complciated regulatory situation.
Airtel has committed to a 60 site BTS programme
with the towerco. To address power issues, Millicom’s
Tigo has signed an ESCO contract in the country with
Camusat’s Aktivco.

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Congo Brazzaville
Figure 11: Congo Brazzaville – estimated tower count

60

Towers: Population: Subscribers:

(World Bank, 2019): (World Bank, 2019):
185 Helios Towers
871 5,380,000 5,000,000
Airtel Congo

SIMs per tower: 5,740 SIM penetration: 93% 426 Azur Congo

Africa Mobile Networks

MNOs: Airtel Congo, Azur, MTN Congo
200
Towercos: Helios Towers, Africa Mobile Networks
Source: TowerXchange
ESCOs: None

There are three mobile network operators in Congo
Brazzaville, all of which are backed by regional players.
MTN Congo and Airtel Congo compete with the much
smaller Bintel-owned Equateur Télécom (trading as
Azur Congo).
Negotiations to sell Airtel’s Congolese opco to
Orange lapsed, but MNO consolidation is not a new
phenomenon in Congo, Airtel having acquired Warid’s
operation in the country in 2014 vaulting them over
MTN to become market leaders.
Helios Towers is the sole traditional towerco in Congo
Brazzaville, having closed a deal to acquire Airtel’s
384 towers, representing 49% of the country’s towers.
Around half of Helios’ sites are reported to be off-grid,
with power availability of on-grid sites averaging 15
hours a day. A rural specialist towerco, Africa Mobile
Networks, has built 60 low-cost rural sites for MTN.
MTN explored an ESCO RFP for their sites in the
country but have pulled the RFP with the intention to
relaunch it at a later date.

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Cote d’Ivoire
Figure 12: Cote d’Ivoire – estimated tower count

174 450

Towers: Population: Subscribers: IHS Towers

(World Bank, 2019): (World Bank, 2019):
1,546
4,344 25,716,000 37,376,000 IHS Towers (under MLL for Orange)

1,000 Moov
SIMs per tower: 8,751 SIM penetration: 145%

Orange
MNOs: Moov, MTN, Orange
To be transferred to fourth licence holder
Towercos: IHS Towers
1,174
ESCOs: Aktivco Source: TowerXchange

IHS Towers own or manage a portfolio of 2,720 towers,
having acquired sites from MTN and entered into a 15
years MLL arrangement with Orange in 2013. Number
three MNO, Moov still retains their tower portfolio which
numbers about 1,000 sites.
then subsequently revoking a license from LPTIC
(GreenN’s backer). There are understood to be about
400-500 sites which were previously owned by the
different parties, with a significant degree of parallel
infrastructure.
Orange has recently signed an ESCO agreement with
Camusat’s Aktivco whilst IHS Towers has invested
heavily in upgrading energy equipment, with over 70%
of its sites now equipped with solar hybrid solutions.

The regulator had previously revoked the operating Overall estimations suggest that the market needs a
licenses of smaller operators Comium, Cafe Mobile further 2,000 towers to be added between all operators
and GreenN in the market before awarding and within the next three years. With regards power,

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DRC
Figure 13: DRC – estimated tower count and business models. Orange has an ESCO contract with
ESCOTEL which is close to activiation: ESCOTEL is a
Sagemcom-run ESCO that is backed by Norfund. Orange
is also looking to extend its network by working with
OpenRAN rural specialists: In early 2021 Orange signed
Towers: Population: Subscribers: a deal with NuRAN to roll-out 2,000 OpenRAN sites on a
(World Bank, 2019): (World Bank, 2019):
sole-tenant basis.
4,845 86,790,000 37,123,000
1,895
These are in addition to their deal with Africa Mobile
SIMs per tower: 7,662 SIM penetration: 43% Networks for 550 sites. AMN sites run a single RAN
2,400
but with the option for multiple tenants on the active
MNOs: Africell, Airtel, Orange, Vodacom side.With around 5,000 towers serving nearly 40mn
connections, DRC has one of the highest number of
Towercos: Helios Towers, Africa Mobile Networks SIMs per tower in the world, and with less than 40% of
the population having a mobile phone and 50% of the
ESCOs: Escotel 550 population living in an area with mobile coverage, the
potential for growth is huge.

There are four MNOs in the DRC; Vodacom has 36% of
the voice market, Orange 28%, Airtel 26% and Africell has
10%. Subscriptions are growing around 2.5% per quarter
and consists of over 99% pre-paid SIMs and an ARPU of
US$3.38 (ARPTC, 2020).
Helios Towers are the country’s only traditional towerco
having acquired first Millicom’s and then Airtel’s towers.
Helios have also built around 500 new sites in the country
Helios Towers Other operators Grid power is reasonably reliable in Kinshasa, but less
Africa Mobile Networks reliable in Lubumbashi and Goma. Almost all sites
outside these three cities are off-grid and the delivered
Source: TowerXchange
cost of diesel can be 2.5x more expensive in rural
areas, although this has reduced somewhat recently.
Renewables and power hybridisation are essential tools
as well as recently finishing two new backbones. Thanks for operators and towercos alike.
to its size, underdevelopment and tough operating
conditions, DRC is home to many innovative site designs

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Ethiopia
Towers: Population: (World Bank, 2019):
7,300 112,078,000
SIMs per tower: 5,424
MNOs: Ethiotel
Towercos: None
ESCOs: None
2021 should see the resolution of Ethiopia’s
long privatization process. This April will see the
competition for two new MNO licences close, to be
followed by the privatisation of a 45% stake in Ethiotel
itself. No towerco licences are likely to be awarded
this year thanks to savvy lobbying by Ethiotel to
position itself as an infrastructure provider in the
country. The effect on the liberalisation process,
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Subscribers: (World Bank, 2019):
39,600.00
SIM penetration: 35%
licence fees and the slowing of any subsequent
rollouts remains to be seen.
Although long a telecoms laggard, a surge in investment
from 2013 onwards saw 3G coverage expand from
below 30% to around 66% today and 2G to 85%. Further
expansion of the network stalled due to a lack of debt
capacity by the Ethiopian state to finance further
investment. Ethiopia’s grid is unreliable and many sites
are off-grid, so there is significant demand for energy
management for cell sites within the country. A large
majority of Ethio’s sites use Huawei equipment, but both
ZTE and Ericsson also work with Ethiotel.
TowerXchange understands that a carve-out and sale of
Ethio Telecoms ~7,300 is no longer being considered.
The independent telecoms regulator, the ECA, had
supported the introduction of towercos to support new
network construction but there is resistance from the
incumbent, Ethiotel, which is seeking to lease space on
its existing towers as the country’s sole infrastructure
owner. Ethiotel is establishing a separate tower
management team, but it remains to be seen whether the
towers can take the additional tenancies required or if the
incumbent can cooperate fairly.
MTN-Telkom, Safaricom-Vodacom-Vodafone and Orange
are all the favoured operators for the new licences, but
11 organisations in total expressed an interest in entering
the market. At least four independent African towercos
were known to have established a presence in the
country and were exploring opportunities, although many
of these plans have been put in the cooler.
 REGIONAL GUIDE AFRICA

Gabon
Figure 14: Gabon – estimated tower count upfront capex. The project encompasses a full solar hybrid
system with CDC batteries and is in the process of being
extended to cover 500 sites (of which 40% are off grid,
10% are on unreliable grid and 50% are on grid). Energy
Vision has also been awarded responsibility for all passive
Towers: Population: Subscribers: elements of the sites, with a view to extend this to sites on
(World Bank, 2019): (World Bank, 2019):
unreliable grid.
1,001 2,172,000 2,930,000

Gabon Telecom and Airtel have deployed LTE, and despite

467
SIMs per tower: 2,930 SIM penetration: 135% comments in 2019 by the Telecom Regulator no moves
534 have been made to roll-out 5G. 4G coverage is still largely
MNOs: Airtel, Gabon Telecom limited to cities with rural areas still underdeveloped.
ARPUs are high for Africa, with prepaid customers at
Towercos: Helios Towers* 4,903CFA (US$9.02) and postpaid 48,650CFA (US$89.46),
although postpaid represents less than 2% of the market.
ESCOs: Energy Vision
In March 2021, Helios Towers announced its plans to
*pending acquistion of Airtel’s towers acquire 459 towers in Gabon (the regulator puts Airtel’s
Airtel Gabon Telecom count at 467), with a commitment to 60 further BTS sites.
Regulatory issues held up the deal last time around, and
Source: TowerXchange
There are two MNOs in the market since Gabon Telecom the deal is not expected to close until Q1 2022 and no deal
merged with Moov to create the country’s largest operator value has been announced. No comment has been issued
ahead of Airtel. Since the merger the two have moved for the future of Energy Vision’s ESCO contract on Airtel’s
into rough parity, with Gabon Telecom having 53% market grid is much less extensive in more rural areas leading to sites except to say that Helios Towers would be assessing
share to Airtel’s 47%. 30-35% of the country’s 1,001 sites being off-grid. Energy the arrangement as it would do in any market.
Vision signed the first real ESCO contract in Africa with
Whilst the electricity grid in the main cities is okay, the Airtel, offering power on a fixed monthly price with no

17 | TowerXchange Issue 31 | www.towerxchange.com

 REGIONAL GUIDE AFRICA

Ghana
Figure 15: Ghana – estimated tower count

Towers: Population: Subscribers: 1,500

(World Bank, 2019): (World Bank, 2019): American Tower
6,981 30,417,000 40,857,000
Helios Towers
5
SIMs per tower: 5,852 SIM penetration: 134% African Towers
209

MNOs: AirtelTigo, MTN, Glo, Surfline, Vodafone, 3,989 Africa Mobile Networks
plus data-only suppliers Surfline, Telesol, Broadband
Home 978 Other

Towercos: American Tower, Helios Towers, African

Towers, Pan African Towers, Africa Mobile Networks

Source: TowerXchange
ESCOs: None

Ghana now has four MNOs after Expresso’s exit from the
market. MTN leads the market with 58% marketshare,
followed by Vodafone with 20%, AirtelTigo with 19% and
Glo with just 3%. The MNOs are joined by three LTE only
players – Surfline, Telesol and Broadband Home. With
both Airtel and Millicom indicating they wish to exit the
Ghanaian market, the government will be taking over
AirtelTigo. Ghana’s relatively high SIMs per tower ratio
indicates both the requirement for new sites and the
high tenancy ratio in the market.
In 2010, Helios Towers set up a joint venture with
Tigo as minority partners into which 831 towers were
transferred. Shortly afterward Eaton Towers closed
their deal with Vodafone Ghana, then American Tower
set up another joint venture with MTN to which 1,856
towers were transferred. In 2015 Airtel sold its towers
to Eaton. There are now two major towercos active

18 | TowerXchange Issue 31 | www.towerxchange.com

 REGIONAL GUIDE AFRICA

GHANA

in Ghana after a series of five tower transactions,

including the acquisition of Eaton Towers by American
Tower in 2020.
TowerXchange Membership
Access the tower industry’s most comprehensive resource centre and network of professionals
In addition to the three large towercos, African Towers
has also built a portfolio of slightly over 200 macro and Detailed market studies Country by country tower counts for the world’s 305 towercos

IBS sites. Parallel Wireless is part of a consortium in Tower ownership in the

German market
the country which has been awarded a project to build
10 Ground based towers: Select Towerco

2,000 OpenRAN sites by the Ghanaian Universal Service 6 Select Towerco

5 1. Deutsche Funkturm
2. Vodafone Towercos Business Model Total Towers Count Last Updated Country Count

Fund, as has Huawei. Africa Mobile Networks, the rural 3. Telxius

4. ATC Europe
1. China Tower Corporation Operator-led 2,015,000 Q220 1

specialist, is working with MTN in the country and has 5 4 5. Telefónica 2. American Tower Pureplay independent 181,200 Q320 20

7 6. Media Broadcast Group 3. Summit Digitel Pureplay independent 136,000 Q420 1

sites now live.

4. Indus Towers [1] Operator-led 127,946 Q320 1
Rooftops:
9 1 5. Cellnex Pureplay independent 52,893 Q320 9

7. Deutsche Funkturm 6. Vantage Towers [2] Operator-led 45,500 Q420 9

3 8. Vodafone 7. Bharti Infratel [1] Operator-led 41,471 Q320 1
9. Telefónica
Whilst grid coverage and availability is good by African
8. Crown Castle Pureplay independent 40,128 Q320 1
10. Telxius
9. edotco Operator-led 32,816 Q220 9

10. SBA Communications Pureplay independent 32,724 Q320 14

standards (with one towerco reporting over 95% of 2

11. Deutsche Funkturm Operator-led 31,200 Q120 1

sites to be on-grid and availability trending towards 1 2 3 4 ... 22

8
above 20 hours a day), electricity prices increased in
the past year meaning that the business case for solar
and hybrid is strengthened and the use of deep cycle
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Become a member of TowerXchange and access a wealth of industry

Find out more at www.towerxchange.com
resources, analyses and experts

19 | TowerXchange Issue 31 | www.towerxchange.com

 REGIONAL GUIDE AFRICA

Kenya
Figure 16: Kenya – estimated tower count Telkom Kenya sold 715 towers to American Tower in a
sale and leaseback deal which closed at the end of 2018.
In early 2020 American Tower’s acquisition of Eaton
300
Towers successfully closed and through further BTS
American Tower now own 2,406 sites in Kenya. Hundreds
Towers: Population: Subscribers: of Eaton and American Tower sites are within 500m of
(World Bank, 2019): (World Bank, 2019): 2,406
one another which will be decommissioned by American
8,070 52,573,000 54,555,000
Tower as it rationalises its sites, so net growth in sites in
the coming years will understate the rate of new build.
SIMs per tower: 6,760 SIM penetration: 104%
Macro towers predominate in Kenya, with only a single
MNOs: Safaricom, Airtel, Telkom percentage of sites on rooftops. Around 500 buildings are
suitable for DAS with a hundred or so covered already;
Towercos: American Tower, Atlas Towers, SEAL Tower Safaricom are currently operating shared DAS networks.
In March 2021 Safaricom announced plans to launch 150
5,364
ESCOs: None 5G sites across nine towns over the next 12 months.

TowerXchange have also been made aware of a

With the cancellation of their planned merger, Airtel
and Telkom remain the number two and three MNOs in
Kenya, behind market leader Safaricom. The merger’s
cancellation has thrown Telkom’s plans into disarray, but
Airtel has reacted by upping its build to suit demands,
with American Tower reporting health demand for new
sites. Safaricom is still on course for roughly 500 new 3G
and 4G sites each year. Safaricom had an ESCO RFP for
~1,200 sites, but its current status is unclear.
American Tower Other new towerco, SEALTowers a start-up focused on low
Safaricom cost compact tower site solutions and hybrid power
innovations. Atlas Towers have entered the market too and
Source: TowerXchange
signed a deal to work with local MSP Adrian Group. Neither
new towerco have disclosed site counts in the country.
Eaton Towers originally entered the market following the
acquisition of Airtel’s sites and had a portfolio of 1,320
sites in the country after some build-to-suit additions.

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 REGIONAL GUIDE AFRICA

Madagascar
Figure 17: Madagascar – estimated tower count Helios Towers announced plans to acquire 494 towers
from Airtel, with a BTS commitment of 135. Announced
alongside plans to acquire towers in Malawi, the deal is
120 expected to close in Q4 2021. The consideration for the
towers in the two countries is US$108mn,, which given
Towers: Population: Subscribers: the ratio of reported EBITDA between the two countries
(World Bank, 2019): (World Bank, 2019):
509 suggests a valuation of US$42mn or US$117.6k per tower.
2,310 26,969,000 10,654,000
Airtel’s tenancy ratio is 1.3x.

SIMs per tower: 6,959 SIM penetration: 40% Orange also issued an ESCO RFP in the Madagascan
1,200 market, although it has since been withdrawn. The
MNOs: Telma, Orange, Airtel, Blueline operational challenge of operating a distributed tower
network, particularly during the rainy season is not for the
Towercos: TowerCo of Madagascar, Helios Towers* 481 feint hearted, and with significant energy challenges in the
country, (Airtel report that 50% of its sites are off-grid) TOM
ESCOs: None has been extensively evaluating a number of different energy
options including a pilot of a wind project in the country.
*pending acquistion of Airtel’s towers
Towerco of Madagascar Airtel

Orange Blueline
Telma, Orange and Airtel operate in the Madagascan
market, with Blueline the country’s newest MNO. Telma Source: TowerXchange

launched 4G operations in 2015, with Orange and

Airtel following in 2017. In May 2020, Telma claimed
to have completed its LTE-A rollout. Towerco of sites in the country, 55% of Madagascar’s total towers.
Madagascar (TOM), initially spun out of Telma but now Madagascar represents one of the few markets where
an independent towerco operates a portfolio of 1,200 Airtel still retains its towers, with that about to change.

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 REGIONAL GUIDE AFRICA

Malawi
Figure 18: Malawi’s slow mobile broadband (Kbps) in 2016 with Airtel launching in early 2018. Afrimax
Malawi predominantly targets business customers, but
was rumoured to be mulling a tower build programme
Kenya of roughly 200 sites to target more retail customers,
depending on acquiring outside financing.
Towers: Population: Subscribers:
Uganda
(World Bank, 2019): (World Bank, 2019):
A recent regulatory review is seeking to promote
1,000 18,628,000 8,901,000
Nigeria further MNOs to begin operating, and has
recommended reducing Mobile Termination Rates
SIMs per tower: 8,901 SIM penetration: 48% from US$0.04 to US$0.02 to bring them into line with
South Africa
international norms, and making more spectrum
MNOs: Airtel, TNM, Afrimax Malawi, Celcom, Access available for the country’s currently inactive MNOs.
Mozambique
Celcom and Access are both potential new entrants in
Towercos: None Malawi, but the regulator has signposted that further
Malawi incentives or changes in policy would be required
ESCOs: None before either could become commercially viable.
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 Perhaps the entry of Helios Towers will enable a
Source: MACRA Report, 2020 healthier mobile market to appear.
There are three active MNOs in the Malawian market
– Airtel, TNM and Afrimax Malawi. Malawi was one of
the few markets where Airtel retained its towers after towers in the two countries is US$108mn, which given
an agreement to sell their towers to Eaton in 2015 was the ratio of reported EBITDA between the two countries
cancelled, but that is about to change. Helios Towers suggests a valuation of US$66mn or US$89.8k per
announced plans to acquire 735 towers from Airtel, with tower. Airtel’s tenancy ratio is 1.4x.
a BTS commitment of 60 more. Announced alongside
plans to acquire towers in Madagascar, the deal is TNM is currently undergoing a project to rollout over 200
expected to close in Q4 2021. The consideration for the towers across the country. TNM launched 4G services

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 REGIONAL GUIDE AFRICA

Mozambique
Figure 19: Mozambique – estimated tower count Fibre rollout to the tower has resulted in microwave
backhaul dishes being removed from some sites,
thus freeing them up for further active equipment.
Infrastructure sharing in the country has been limited,
with a just an estimated 50 towers being shared
Towers: Population: Subscribers: between TMCel and Vodacom. The government passed
1,400
(World Bank, 2019): (World Bank, 2019):
a bill mandating infrastructure sharing at the end of
4,400 30,366,000 14,074,000
2018 but without much improvement.
1,800

SIMs per tower: 3,198 SIM penetration: 46%
MNOs: Vodacom, TMCel, Movitel
Towercos: None
ESCOs: None
There are three MNOs in Mozambique, Vodacom,
government-backed Tmcel, and Viettel’s Movitel. The
entrance of a third MNO Movitel back in 2012 caused
a radical shakeup of the telecoms sector with the
Vietnamese-owned operator rapidly deploying their
network. Movitel’s widespread roll-out of guyed masts
is what pushed down Mozambique’s SIMs per tower to
such a low level for a country at its level of development.
While some of these guyed masts have since been
Back in 2019, state-owned MCel (prior to its merger
with TDM and renaming) reviewed a sale of its ~1,000
towers. There had also been speculation of a potential
tower sale at Movitel although a formal process was
never announced. Rumour has it that the entrance
of Movitel into the market was part of a government
1,400
plan to expand network infrastructure and then sell the
assets. If this were the case, the decision to sell may be
more likely to come from FRELIMO than Viettel.
Movitel TMCel Vodacom
As to who the likely bidders would be in a Mozambique
Source: TowerXchange
tower sale, it is not yet clear – Tmcel’s earlier tower
sale announcement didn’t appear to have attracted the
interest of the continent’s leading towercos. In January
upgraded to lattice structures much of Mozambique’s 2020, TMCel announced plans to raise US$200mn for
infrastructure is not suited to sharing. The country network expansion projects.
has an estimated 2,600 foundation-based towers,
supplemented by an additional 1,800 guyed masts.

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 REGIONAL GUIDE AFRICA

Namibia

Towers: Population: (World Bank, 2019): Subscribers: (World Bank, 2019):

749 2,494,000 2,822,000

SIMs per tower: 3,767 SIM penetration: 113%

MNOs: MTC, Telecom Namibia, Paratus

Towercos: Powercom

ESCOs: None

The Namibian mobile market has been dominated by two
government owned MNOs: MTC and Telecom Namibia,
although the entrance of privately held Paratus following
an overhaul of the country’s telecoms regulation has
introduced a new level of competition.
PowerCom, owned by MNO Telecom Namibia, is
Namibia’s first dedicated infrastructure player. Managing
a portfolio of 311 towers, the company has ambitions to
integrate further assets into its portfolio. The company
has tenancies from all three operators in the market as
well as a number of non-traditional tenants.
The Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia
has proposed a new regulation mandating infrastructure
sharing and prohibiting operators from setting up
new infrastructure where there are existing sites. An
announcement from the regulator is expected imminently
regarding the legislation. The government have also
introduced a network facility license category to regulate
a designated infrastructure provider in the country. MTC
has announced plans to roll out over 524 rural towers
from 2018 onwards, with 40 contractors and 17 different
suppliers selected for the process.
In terms of power, the country’s electricity grid is extensive
and as such, most sites only need rectifiers and battery
banks, with back up DGs only on critical sites. Powercom
report that only two of their 311 sites is off-grid. PowerCom
is exploring the option of working with an ESCO.

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 REGIONAL GUIDE AFRICA

Niger

Towers: Population: (World Bank, 2019): Subscribers: (World Bank, 2019):

1,900 23,310,000 10,986,329

SIMs per tower: 5,782 SIM penetration: 47%

MNOs: Airtel, Moov, Orange, Sahelcom

Towercos: American Tower

ESCOs: Aktivco

There are four MNOs in Niger; Airtel, Moov, Orange and
Sahelcom. Airtel sold their portfolio of 600 sites to Eaton,
with the transaction closing in 2017. Orange sold out to
a local minority investor at the end of 2019. In early 2020
American Tower announced it had completed a deal to
acquire all of Eaton Towers’ sites in the country.
has been fairly modest, Airtel’s recent turnaround in
profitability in the African market, coupled with them
obtaining a 4G license means that American Tower is
already seeing more build-to-suit activity, American Tower
now own 720 sites in the country.

Over 50% of the country’s towers are off-grid. Orange

recently signed an ESCO contract with Camusat’s Aktivco
covering around 500 sites. Whilst new build in the market

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 REGIONAL GUIDE AFRICA

Nigeria
Figure 20: Nigeria – estimated tower count

550 440

IHS Towers

Towers: Population: Subscribers: American Towers

(World Bank, 2019): (World Bank, 2019):
6,000 Pan African Towers
32,069 200,963,000 172,730,000
BCTek Engineering
200 Communications Towers Nigeria
SIMs per tower: 5,367 SIM penetration: 86%
500 75
700 Hotspot Networks
MNOs: Airtel, Glo, MTN, 9mobile 16,481
1,300 Other small Nigerian towercos

Towercos: IHS Towers, American Towers, African Glo

Mobile Networks, Pan African Towers and other NATCOM
smaller Nigerian towercos 5,823
Africa Mobile Networks
ESCOs: Renewables Watts, IPT PowerTech,
Source: TowerXchange
Mantrac

There are four GSM mobile network operators in the
Nigerian market, namely MTN, Glo, Airtel and 9mobile
(formerly Etisalat Nigeria). In addition to the four GSM
players there are two CDMA operators and a host of
LTE-only players.Nigeria is a benchmark tower market
for many reasons. It’s the largest mobile market in SSA,
with 172.7mn connections among a population of 201mn
(World Bank, 2019).
It’s the oldest growth independent towerco market in
Africa; towercos have been building towers in Nigeria
since 2006. Almost half of SSA’s towerco-owned towers
are in Nigeria, and over US$2.5bn has been spent by
towercos to acquire towers there. Towercos have proved
their ability to deliver 99.9% uptime in challenging grid
conditions in Nigeria. Nigeria is not just a benchmark
for African towers, its proof of the efficacy of the
independent towerco model in any emerging market.

26 | TowerXchange Issue 31 | www.towerxchange.com

 REGIONAL GUIDE AFRICA

NIGERIA

American Tower entered the Nigerian market in 2014
following an acquisition of Airtel’s 4,700 towers, whilst
IHS Towers acquired the portfolios of Etisalat and MTN
in the same year. IHS Towers has further consolidated
its position in the market, acquiring HTN Towers
portfolio of 1,211 sites as well as sites from Hotspot
Network. IHS Towers’s acquisition of HTN Towers also
included a MLL contract for SWAP’s 368 towers, IHS
has however since terminated the agreement. Pan
African Towers has around 1,300 towers in the country.
A deep recession and the devaluation of the Naira
had a major impact on Nigeria’s MNOs with knock on
effects for their towerco partners. Unable to service a
loan, Etisalat’s opco in the country was taken over by
its creditors and rebranded to 9mobile. 9mobile is still
seeking a new buyer but has been raising capital an
investing in its network again.
country, replacing diesel generators with solar hybrid
solutions on over 10,000 towers through five different
contractors (now three). The towerco is continuing to
explore further green and energy efficiency solutions
and are looking now at options to supply power beyond
the tower which may ultimately require a tripling of the
energy generation capacity of some of their sites. Pan
African Towers are also working with an ESCO partner
to switch away from diesel.
IHS Towers has a license to deploy fibre in Nigeria and
they are starting formulate their fibre strategy, having
identified about a third of their towers which they think
have a good business case to deploy fibre to. Four
other companies hold infraco licenses in the country
which enable them to deploy fibre. Advert

In 2019 Africa Mobile Networks got their first Nigerian

site active. AMN is a low-cost, rural-site specialist
which operators on both a revenue share and
traditional opex-model. They have a deal with MTN
to deliver 420 rural sites before the end of 2020, and
will soon be reaching a scale similar or larger than the
longer tail of independent towercos already active in
Nigeria. They have since added 9mobile as second
tenant on some sites.

IHS Towers has invested heavily in upgrading power

systems through their ‘Big Five’ initiative in the

27 | TowerXchange Issue 31 | www.towerxchange.com

 REGIONAL GUIDE AFRICA
Rwanda
Towers: Population: (World Bank, 2019):
1,300
SIMs per tower: 7,429
MNOs: Airtel, MTN
Towercos: IHS Towers
ESCOs: None
There are now two MNOs in the Rwandan market
following Airtel’s acquisition of their larger rival, Tigo
in early 2018. The new unit moved ahead of their
competitors, MTN, in terms of market share.
IHS Towers has acquired both Airtel’s and MTN’s Rwandan
towers and, after having added build-to-suit towers and
undertaking decommissioning work, now owns a portfolio
of 948 sites. As a small market, new build is limited and
decommissioning is still required.
28 | TowerXchange Issue 31 | www.towerxchange.com
Subscribers: (World Bank, 2019):
12,626,000 9,658,000
SIM penetration: 76%
IHS have announced that they are assessing solar farm
opportunities in Rwanda that could potentially supply
power to the national grid in the first ‘energy swap’ model
to be used in Africa.
Of all the SSA regions, Rwanda is showing some of the
strongest promise in small cells and DAS making it a key
target for such companies looking to enter Africa; IHS have
explored shared DAS.
 REGIONAL GUIDE AFRICA

Senegal
Figure 21: Senegal – estimated tower count Interestingly, Senegal’s number three MNO had previously
signed a deal to sell its towers. In 2016 local towerco Al
Karama Towers announced the acquisition of 450 towers
625 from Expresso Telecom. Since then, the total number of
Expresso sites has swelled to 625 but the deal is yet to
Towers: Population: Subscribers: close, leaving an opportunity open should Helios Towers
(World Bank, 2019): (World Bank, 2019):
want to also expand inorganically in Senegal.
4,045 16,296,000 17,880,000

The potential for lease up in a three-player market is

SIMs per tower: 4,420 SIM penetration: 110% acceptable for a towerco, and the option for the entry of
2,200
a fourth MNO provides some upside. There have been
MNOs: Sonatel, Expresso, Free 1,220 reports that a joint venture between South Korea’s SK
Telecom and Middle Eastern firm CKG Group had applied
Towercos: Helios Towers (pending deal closure) for a fourth MNO license in the country, in a bid to access
Senegal’s nascent LTE market. There were also three ISP
ESCOs: None licences issued in 2017.

4G growth in the country has been limited so far. Expresso

Senegal has a young, growing and increasingly urbanised
population with high GDP growth. There are 17.9mn
mobile connections in the country, these are split between
9.9mn with Orange, 4.4mn with Free and 3.6mn with third-
placed Expresso.
First placed operator Sonatel, in which Orange has a
controlling stake, had reportedly looked into a sale of
its towers previously but talks failed, reportedly due to
Sonatel Expresso
Helios Towers*
* pending closure of acquisition from Free Senegal
Source: TowerXchange
workforce resistance. Senegal is not included in Orange’s
current ESCO pipeline, and so their towers may remain an
attractive acquisition target for Helios Towers.
is yet to launch its 4G after receiving a licence last year,
and the COVID-19 crisis disrupted its planned March
launch. Free Senegal received its 4G licence only in
December 2018, shortly after Sonatel launched its 4G
network in September 2018. The growth of 4G offers a
promising source of growth for lease-up and new site
development for Helios Towers.

29 | TowerXchange Issue 31 | www.towerxchange.com

 REGIONAL GUIDE AFRICA

South Africa
Figure 22: South Africa – estimated tower count

235
236
240
700 MTN
Towers: Population: Subscribers: 1,095
13,000
(World Bank, 2019): (World Bank, 2019): Vodacom
33,873 58,558,000 96,972,000
Gyro Group
2,831
American Tower
SIMs per tower: 2,862 SIM penetration: 166%
SBA Communications/Atlas Tower
MNOs: MTN, Vodacom, Telkom, Cell C, Rain Cell C

Sentech
Towercos: American Tower, SBA Communications/
6,500
Atlas Tower, Helios Towers, Gyro Towers, Sentech, Helios Towers
Eagle Towers, Blue Sky Towers + ~20 other middle- Other smaller towercos
9,000
market towercos

Source: TowerXchange
ESCOs: Abbott Technologies

There are five MNOs in the South African market –
MTN, Vodacom, Telkom and Cell C, with new data
focussed MNO, Rain, having recently launched. Cell
C is in the process of shutting down its network
and switching to a roaming agreement with MTN.
Towercos have struggled to get a foothold in the
South African market since Cell C sold their portfolio
to American Tower back in 2010; with Cell C currently
on the brink of insolvency. Telkom has carved out
their tower business into a separate unit, Gyro Towers
in order to better commercialise its 6,500 towers.
Rumours have arisen lately that Gyro are now in a
position to monetise their towers. Disagreements over
lease rates have now been resolved and American
Tower is now leasing and building sites for South
Africa’s other MNOs again.
Vodacom has developed a successful commercial

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 REGIONAL GUIDE AFRICA
SOUTH AFRICA
towerco business model in house, including a platform
on which other frequency holders can view available
space on Vodacom sites. Towercos have long been
eyeing up MTN’s portfolio of 13,000 sites and the
operate has now announced plans to monetise its
towers some time in 2021.
A long tail of build to suit towercos have emerged in
South Africa, headed by the rapidly growing Atlas Tower
which has been acquired by SBA Communications. SBA
Communications had until 2020 been a strictly western
hemisphere towerco, but now owns Atlas Tower’s
portfolio of over 1,000 sites in the country.
Helios Towers South Africa launched in early 2019 as
31 | TowerXchange Issue 31 | www.towerxchange.com
a joint venture between Helios Towers and local fibre-
player Vulatel. They acquired 100 towers when they
bought SA Towers, as well as a pipeline of around 200
more. In May 2020, Helios Towers agreed to purchase
65 sites from Eagle Towers and work together on future
site development.
The power grid is robust and widespread in South
Africa, with MTN reporting that all but 53 of their sites
are on-grid, however the reliability has recently suffered
with Eskom forced to use rolling blackouts to manage
demand. Battery theft has compounded the problem,
prompting Vodacom to issue a 1,140 site ESCO
RFP. Unlike the majority of their sub-Saharan African
counterparts, South Africa’s towercos tend to operate
Advert
a steel and grass model more akin to the developed
markets of Europe and the U.S. with power managed
as a pass through. Towercos have begun to eye up
the fibre market in South Africa, with American Tower
signing a partnership with fibreco, Frogfoot, and Helios
Towers partnering with Vulatel.
5G spectrum is being auctioned in an unusual way in
South Africa with “Tier 1” MNOs, Vodacom and MTN,
excluded from some of the auctions to make way for
Telkom, Liquid Telecom, Cell C and others in “Tier 2.”MTN
is challenging the process in court. Plans to create a
Wholesale Open Access Network (WOAN), which would
use 5G spectrum to create a wholesale network not
owned by any existing MNO continue.  
 REGIONAL GUIDE AFRICA

Tanzania
Figure 23: Tanzania – estimated tower count

340
715
Towers: Population: Subscribers:
(World Bank, 2019): (World Bank, 2019): Helios Towers
7,776 58,005,000 47,685,000
Airtel

1,500
Halotel
SIMs per tower: 6,132 SIM penetration: 82% 3,821

Tigo/Zantel
MNOs: Tigo and Zantel (owned by Axian Group),
Vodacom, Airtel, Haltoel, TTCL, Azam Other

Towercos: Helios Towers 1,400

ESCOs: None Source: TowerXchange

Helios own nearly 4,000 sites in Tanzania having acquired
both Vodacom and Millicom’s portfolios in the country
as well as Zantel’s mainland sites. In the Vodacom
transaction, Vodacom sold 100% equity in the towers
but obtained a 24% stake in Helios Towers Tanzania, a
stake which Helios has since purchased. In the Millicom
deal, Millicom and Helios formed a joint venture in which
Millicom held a 40% stake, the 40% stake was then
restructured into a shareholding at Helios’ group level.
Millicom has now consolidated Zantel into its Tigo
Tanzania brand. Millicom has sold out to the Axian Group,
which owns Madagascar’s TELMA and TowerCo of
Madagascar. Axian has investments across Africa and
recently agreed a tower sale in Senegal to Helios Towers.
Axian plans to expand Tigo and Zantel’s coverage,
especially 4G. Zantel retains its towers on Zanzibar,
which may now come to market.

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 REGIONAL GUIDE AFRICA
TANZANIA
In addition to Tigo, Vodacom, Airtel and Zantel, Halotel
and TTCL are present in the market, with each of the
main MNOs dominant in a different part of the country.
Halotel has been particularly aggressive in their national
rollout, driving significant additional tenancies to Helios
Towers. Azam Telecom became the newest MNO to be
awarded an operating license and expects to start rolling
out its network imminently. Smart have exited the market
but retain 40 unwanted towers.
In 2016, Airtel agreed the sale of the 1,350 sites to
American Tower, but the deal was cancelled. The biggest
33 | TowerXchange Issue 31 | www.towerxchange.com
contributing factors to the calling off of the deal was
the introduction of a new legal requirement for telecom
companies to list a 25% stake on the Dar Es Salaam stock
exchange. In May 2019 Airtel announced a request for
interest for 1,400 towers following the rescindment of the
local listing requirement. Ex-ATC staff backed Paradigm
Towers has been linked to the deal, although there has
been no official movement since the original request.
Helios report that approximately 80% of their towers in
the country are on-grid, with grid availability currently
around 20 hours per day. Grid connections are
Advert
continuing apace in Tanzania, materially reducing Helios
Towers costs in the country. At over 20 hours a day
grid power, battery backup and hybridisation become
extremely attractive.
The Tanzania Universal Service and Access Fund is
financing the building of over 100 rural sites a year. Each
of the three main MNOs have been in a RANsharing
agreement since 2016 to improve coverage in rural
areas. To enhance their rural coverage, TTCL are working
with Fariwaves to build 13 low-cost rural sites based on
Fairwaves’ OpenRAN technology.
 REGIONAL GUIDE AFRICA

Uganda
Figure 24: Uganda – estimated tower count

800
Towers: Population: Subscribers:
(World Bank, 2019): (World Bank, 2019):

4,187 44,269,000 24,472,000

American Tower

SIMs per tower: 5,845 SIM penetration: 55% MNOs

MNOs: MTN, Airtel, Africell, Smile, UTL

Towercos: American Tower, Ubuntu Towers

3,387

ESCOs: None Source: TowerXchange

There are 5 MNOs in the Ugandan market; MTN,
Airtel, Africell, Smile and UTL. A sale of UTL to
Teleology Holdings fell through in early 2019, leaving
the future of the state-owned operator and its 400
towers in doubt. Lycamobile, the international calling
specialists and previously MVNO-only operator, is
partnering with local ISP Tangerine to launch a MNO
into Uganda and is in talks with local towercos about
their tower requirements.
Eaton Towers had completed three tower transactions
in Uganda, acquiring the towers of Orange, Warid and
Airtel. Airtel has since acquired Warid whilst Orange has
sold out to Africell. American Tower entered into a joint
venture in the country with MTN (American Tower has
now purchased the remaining 49% in the joint venture
from MTN). In 2020 American Tower completed its
acquisition of Eaton Towers. ATC has added about a
site a week since the acquisition closed.
Around 150 new towers are expected to be added in
the next 12 months. Around 27% of sites are off-grid,
with about half of new build being off-grid. Grid outages
are common, even in Kampala, meaning that lots of
investment is going into hybrid solutions. Eaton has
conducted a pilot study to assess hybrid solutions
under both capex and opex models, but it is not clear
what will happen post-acquisition.

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 REGIONAL GUIDE AFRICA

Zambia
Figure 25: Zambia – estimated tower count

Towers: Population: Subscribers:

(World Bank, 2019): (World Bank, 2019):

3,182 17,861,000 17,220,000 IHS Towers

1,300
Africa Mobile Networks
SIMs per tower: 5,411 SIM penetration: 96% 1,757
Infratel
MNOs: ZAMTEL, Airtel, MTN

Towercos: IHS Towers, Africa Mobile Networks, Infratel

125
Source: TowerXchange
ESCOs: None

There are three MNOs in the Zambian market Airtel, MTN
and ZAMTEL. IHS Towers have acquired the portfolios of
both MTN and Airtel and now have a portfolio of 1,757
sites in the country.
After a period of quiet in the country, activity has
increased. In 2019 Infratel was formed by the investment
arm of the government, combining 1,300 towers from
ZAMTEL as well as three data centres which previously
belonged to Zambia National Data Centre. Talks are
advanced to add a third line of business to Infratel: fibre
backbone infrastructure which is currently operated by
another government investment arm subsidiary. Since
2020, Africa Mobile Networks have built 125 low-cost
rural sites for MTN.

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 REGIONAL GUIDE AFRICA

Zimbabwe
Figure 26: Zimbabwe – estimated tower count

600
Towers: Population: Subscribers:
(World Bank, 2019): (World Bank, 2019):

3,000 14,645,000 13,195,000 Econet

Telecel
SIMs per tower: 4,398 SIM penetration: 90% 1,800
600 NetOne
MNOs: Econet, Telecel, NetOne

Towercos: None

Source: TowerXchange
ESCOs: None

There are three MNOs in Zimbabwe, market leaders
Econet Wireless alongside NetOne and Telecel (with
the government having a stake in the latter two).
POTRAZ, the Zimbabwean telecoms regulator has
proposed a revamp of existing legislation. The regulator
had previously announced its appetite to promote
infrastructure sharing in the country, and in May
2019 NetOne and Econet announced plans to share
infrastructure to relieve capex pressure.
Econet owns the largest tower portfolio in the country
with around 1,800 towers; the operator had initially
planned to carve out the towers into a separate business
unit, Ecotowers, but plans appear to be on hold. Telecel
and NetOne own around 600 towers each. Econet reports
that it currently uses around 60 third party towers.
With regards to the power situation, Econet reports that
just 46 of its towers are off-grid, running on solar battery
hybrids. Grid availability for on-grid sites in Zimbabwe
is good, currently sitting around 95%. Econet’s in-house
ESCO, Distributed Power Africa manages power across
its tower portfolio, whilst also providing power to other
commercial and industrial customers.

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 REGIONAL GUIDE AFRICA

Figure 27: Africa’s biggest tower transactions to date

Year Country Seller Buyer Tower Deal value Cost per tower Deal structure
count (US$) (US$)

2021 Chad, Gabon Airtel Helios Towers 998 SLB*

2021 Madagascar, Malawi Airtel Helios Towers 1,129 108,000,000 95,660 SLB*

2020 Senegal Free Senegal Helios Towers 1,220 210,000,000 172,000 SLB*

2020 Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Niger, Uganda Eaton Towers American Tower 5,700 1,850,000,000 324,561 Company acquisition

2019 South Africa Atlas Towers SA SBA ~900 140,000,000 155,556 Portfolio Acquisition++
Communications

2018 Kenya Telkom Kenya American Tower 715 SLB

2016 Tanzania Zantel HTA 185 6,700,000 36,216 SLB

2016 Senegal Expresso Telecom Al Karama Towers 450 SLB*

2016 South Africa Eaton Towers American Tower 300 Portfolio Acquisition

2016 DRC Airtel HTA 967 165,000,000 170,631 SLB

2016 Nigeria Hotspot Network IHS 85 Portfolio Acquisition

2016 Nigeria HTN Towers IHS 1,211 Company Acquisition**

2015 Nigeria Etisalat IHS 555 SLB 

2014 Rwanda Airtel IHS 164 SLB

2014 Zambia Airtel IHS 949 150,000,000 158,061 SLB

2014 Nigeria Airtel American Tower 4,717 1,060,000,000 224,719 SLB

2014 Niger Airtel Eaton 600 SLB

2014 Ghana, Burkina Faso, Kenya & Uganda Airtel Eaton 2,681 540,000,000 201,417 SLB

2014 Nigeria MTN IHS 8,850 984,000,000 226,911 Joint venture (IHS 49%, MTN 51%)***

2014 Nigeria Etisalat IHS 2,136 485,000,000 227,060 SLB

* announced, not yet closed ** Deal included 368 SWAP sites under MLL; agreement since cancelled *** MTN’s equity since restructured for additional shareholding at IHS group level + Vodacom
acquired a 24.5% stake in HTT, which Helios has since purchased for $58.5mn ++ Deal structure not disclosed, but involved exercising options to increase ownership from a pre-existing stake to 94%

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 REGIONAL GUIDE AFRICA

Figure 27: Africa’s biggest tower transactions to date

Year Country Seller Buyer Tower Deal value Cost per tower Deal structure
count (US$) (US$)
2014 Congo B Airtel HTA 393 50,000,000 127,226 SLB
2014 Rwanda MTN IHS 550 48,000,000 87,273 SLB
2014 Zambia MTN IHS 748 57,000,000 76,203 SLB
2013 Tanzania Vodacom HTA 1,149 75,000,000 65,274 SLB with direct investment in HTT+
2013 Kenya Telkom Kenya Eaton 1,000 MLL (Contract since cancelled, towers
currently for sale)
2013 Cameroon & Cote d'Ivoire Orange IHS 2,000 MLL
2012 Cote d'Ivoire MTN IHS 911 141,000,000 154,775 SLB
2012 Cameroon MTN IHS 820 143,000,000 174,390 SLB
2012 Uganda Warid Eaton 400 SLB
2012 Uganda  Orange Eaton 300 SLB
2011 Uganda MTN American Tower 962 89,250,000 181,912 Joint venture (AMT 51%, MTN 49%)
2010 Tanzania Millicom/Tigo HTA 1,200 81,000,000 112,500 Joint venture (HTA 60%, Milicom 40%)++
2010 DRC Millicom/Tigo HTA 521 41,500,000 132,758 Joint venture (HTA 60%, Milicom 40%)++
2010 Ghana MTN American Tower 1,856 218,500,000 230,835 Joint venture (AMT 51%, MTN 49%)
2010 South Africa * Cell C American Tower 1,400 200,000,000 142,857 SLB with BTS+++
2010 Nigeria Starcomms SWAP 407 81,000,000 199,017 SLB
2010 Ghana Vodafone Eaton 750 MLL
2010 Nigeria Visafone IHS 800 67,000,000 83,750 SLB
2010 Nigeria Multilinks HTN 400 MLL
2010 Ghana Millicom/Tigo HTA 831 54,000,000 108,303 Joint venture (HTA 60%, Milicom 40%)++
2010 Ghana Millicom/Tigo HTA 750 54,000,000 120,000 Joint venture (HTA 60%, Millicom 40%)

* announced, not yet closed ++ Millicom restructured their equity into Helios’ operations into a 24% stake at group level (since reduced to 22.83%) which Millicom is now looking to monetis +++
Cell C deal included 1,400 existing towers plus 1800 to be constructed. Total acquisition cost of US$430mn excluded here because the BTS component distorts the average

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Tower Xchange

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