Afrigather MTN Nigeria, the nation’s largest telco, has renewed its lease settlement with tower infrastructure supplier IHS Towers, ending a two-year boardroom tussle between the 2 firms. The brand new deal will see IHS handle MTN networks websites past the preliminary September 2023 deadline.
The renegotiation comes eleven months after MTN chosen American Towers Company (ATC) to take over its tower operations from IHS by 2025.
Beneath the brand new settlement, ATC will present tower companies for two,100 websites, whereas IHS will handle 1,400 websites. The 1400 websites embody new 1000 MTN websites to be rolled out over the subsequent few years, allotted between the 2 tower operators. These new agreements are efficient April 1, 2024, till December 31, 2032. Earlier than the renegotiation, the location leases expired between December 2024 and December 2029.
The deal would profit IHS Towers, which earns 63% of its tower income from Nigeria. By servicing Airtel and MTN Nigeria, the most important telcos within the West African nation, the tower may witness an enchancment in revenues. In a separate submitting on Wednesday, IHS Towers mentioned the tower lease renegotiation is a testomony to the deepened relationship between the 2 firms.
The renegotiation, which incorporates new monetary phrases specializing in foreign money stability and diesel prices, goals to mitigate the influence of Nigeria’s financial challenges on each firms.
The brand new contracts embody a dollar-denominated part linked to US inflation, a naira-denominated part tied to Nigerian inflation, and a diesel-linked part to hedge towards rising gas costs and foreign money fluctuations.
The settlement is predicted to bolster IHS’s place within the Nigerian market, the place it competes with ATC for tower administration contracts. It additionally supplies MTN with a extra diversified tower infrastructure and doubtlessly improved price administration.
