"Bharti Airtel Limited [through its subsidiary company Bharti Airtel International (Netherlands) and IHS Holding Limited today announced an agreement under which IHS will acquire over 1,100 telecoms towers across two countries," a joint statement said.
As part of the 10-year renewable contract, Airtel will lease back the towers from IHS.
Though the company did not share the financial details of the deal, investment banking sources put it around $180-200 million.
The agreements will allow Airtel to focus on its core business and customers, enable it to deleverage through debt reduction, and will significantly reduce its on-going capital expenditure on passive infrastructure in these African markets.
"This agreement will accelerate infrastructure sharing amongst operators and benefit customers in form of affordable tariffs and wider network coverage," Bharti Airtel Africa MD and CEO Christian de Faria said.
With the agreement, IHS expands its Africa tower footprint to over 21,000 towers across five countries.
"The opportunity to expand our East African business bringing IHS' market leading energy and infrastructure management practices to a wider market is an excellent opportunity," IHS Executive Vice Chairman and Group CEO Issam Darwish saidFor details of the latest launches and news from Samsung, Xiaomi, Realme, OnePlus, Oppo and other companies at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, visit our MWC 2026 hub.
Lava Bold 2 5G India Launch Teased; Company Teases Design Ahead of Debut
Nubia Neo 5 GT With MediaTek Dimensity 7400 SoC Launched at MWC 2026: Price, Specifications