Bharti Airtel has announced that it had sold of 3100 telecom towers in Africa to a firm named Helios Towers Africa in a deal with which it aims at finding stability in its operation within the continent. This is just part of the chunk it possesses right now, as a whopping 15000 towers in total are said to be in its kitty in the said region.
Both Bharti Airtel and Helios Towers Africa have announced this deal collectively, but have refrained from mentioning the price. What it means for the former is less capital expenditure which is usually spent in running and maintaining the towers, as all that will now be handled by HTA.
Bharti Airtel will be using these towers of course, but under a long-term lease contract. It should be known that the company is looking to trade off all 15000 of its telecom towers in Africa, and as The Economic Times has revealed, their sale could fetch it anywhere around $2.5 billion to $3 billion.
Once this plan succeeds Bharti Airtel will be able curb its capital expenditure on passive infrastructure and focus on improving its core telecom business and customers. It feels the need to do so, as the telecom giant’s African business is yet to earn profit.
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According to Manoj Kohli who’s the chairman of Bharti Airtel International Netherlands BV (BAIN), this decision of selling 3100 telecom towers to Helios Towers Africa is an ‘important step’ for the company in its bid to consolidate its tower assets across Africa to produce greater cost efficiency.