Christian de Faria CEO Airtel Africa
American Tower Corporation and Indian telecoms group Bharti Airtel have entered into a definitive agreement for the sale of over 4,800 of Airtel’s communications towers in Nigeria. Airtel will be the anchor tenant on the portfolio under a lease with a ten-year initial term, allowing the mobile operator to focus on its core business and customers. The deal will also significantly reduce Airtel Nigeria’s ongoing capital expenditures on passive infrastructure. ‘Nigeria is the largest mobile market in Africa and a key one for Airtel,’ commented Christian de Faria, MD and CEO of Bharti Airtel Africa, adding: ‘This agreement, which is part of our stated philosophy of promoting infrastructure sharing, will provide us with considerable cost efficiencies and at the same time allows us to sharpen our focus on the customer. American Tower has a proven track record in passive infrastructure management and we look forward to benefitting from the best practices from all other countries it operates in.’ American Tower and Airtel expect to close the acquisition during the first half of 2015, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approval.
