Etisalat signs tower sale, lease back pact with IHS for Nigeria operations
Etisalat Nigeria has announced the sale of 2,136 of its towers to HIS Holding Limited (“IHS”) as part of a broader strategy to drive improvements in the quality of its network performance and to accelerate roll out of 2G and 3G coverage and new services to its customers.
The transaction, the first by a major GSM operator in Nigeria, is expected to close later this year.
The partnership with IHS was designed to promote network sharing, ensure higher quality, sustain reliable mobile services, lower overall costs and also promote a cleaner environment through reduced diesel usage, increased investments in alternative energy solutions and enhance quality experience on Etisalat network.
Issam Darwish, CEO of IHS, disclosed that over the past 18 months, IHS has installed a large number of alternative energy sites in Nigeria.
These investments, according to him, in addition to further investments in its state-of-theart Network Operations Centre meant that uptimes of over 99% are achieved on its owned sites.
He said under the terms of this transaction IHS has committed to investing a further USD100 million in the towers acquired on advanced generators, efficient batteries and alternative energy solutions to reduce diesel consumption and improve efficiency of grid use.
He said: “We are delighted to have been trusted by Etisalat Nigeria with their passive network infrastructure. Our market leading operations team, managed through a state-of-theart network operations centre and our continual investment in better, more efficient systems and technologies will ensure that that trust is well placed. This partnership will provide significant long-term benefits to Etisalat Nigeria, allowing them to focus entirely on marketing new customer propositions to a wider market.”
Also, Matthew Willsher, CEO of Etisalat Nigeria, said: “Continued demand for mobile connectivity along with increased consumption of data requires reliable and effective networks that are also cost efficient for network operators. The decision to sell our passive infrastructure to an experienced commercial partner, such as IHS, is part of our strategy to increase network coverage and capacity which is already rated number 1 for quality of service by the NCC.”
Wilsher explained that on the conclusion of this transaction, IHS will own and manage over 6,540 towers in Nigeria all of which will be managed by the most advanced Network Operating Centre (NOC) in the country, providing customers with market and industry leading levels of passive network uptime.
IHS will market services on the towers promoting tower sharing and collocation to help drive network improvements, better service to subscribers and economic growth, he added.