MTN Dumps IHS Holding, Hires American Company To Takeover Its 2,500 Towers

MTN Nigeria Communications PLC has selected American Tower Corp. (ATC) to take over its Nigerian tower operations from IHS Holding Ltd from 2025.

The decision is coming as leases for approximately 2,500 of its network sites in Nigeria which is serviced by IHS, will expire in 2024 and 2025.

MTN said it has notified the Nigerian Exchange Limited and the investing public that the lease of approximately 2.5k network sites, for which IHS Nigeria Limited currently provides tower services, is due to expire in 2024 and 2025.

It said, ” In line with MTN Nigeria’s procurement policy, which seeks to ensure a transparent and competitive bidding process, the Company called for tender for these tower contracts.

“Following a review of the bids received for tower services for the affected sites, ATC Nigeria Wireless Infrastructure Solutions Limited (ATC) was selected as the preferred tower company for those sites based on its superior bid submission.

“Additionally, this will further diversify our site portfolio and align with our proactive initiatives to renegotiate tower agreements, focusing on ensuring terms that will help cushion the business from the volatility in our trading environment.”

This shift in partnership follows a disagreement between MTN and IHS which has affected their relationship.

In 2022, MTN completed a sale-and-leaseback deal with IHS for more than 5,700 of its South African tower sites.

Since the deal was reached, the two companies have been engulfed in shareholder dispute over governance issues.

MTN holds a 26 per cent stake in the tower company. Together with Wendel SE and MTN Group Ltd, they own about 45 per cent of the company.

Both shareholders had argued that all shareholders with at least a 10 per cent stake should have the power to nominate board members.

“The proposals requested to be put forward were not in the best interest of the company as a whole or our collective shareholder base,” IHS reportedly said.

IHS is the largest telecommunications infrastructure provider in Africa, Latin America and the Middle East by tower count.

In Nigeria, IHS Towers and its subsidiaries manage over 16,700 sites.